Madeira: The islands and their wines

Madeira is unique among wines. While heat and air cause most wines to deteriorate, they are instrumental in the ageing of Madeira, producing distinctive and enthralling wines. Decades (in some cases over a century) of ageing result in a wine that is virtually indestructible and which remains stable for many months, even years, once opened – a great advantage with an expensive old wine. More than thirty years ago Richard Mayson was seduced by the romance of tasting history through these wine...