H & H 1997 Single Harvest Madeira
(Madeira, Portugal) [500ml]

About the Wine:

It might be said that the history of Henriques & Henriques is the history of Madeira itself. Legend has it that Infante Dom Henriques planted the island’s first vines in 1425. These vines gave fruit to one of the “first families of Madeira” and in the process sunk deep roots which Henriques’ descendants and successors continue to draw upon in guiding H&H today.

João Joaquim Gonçalves Henriques founded the firm in 1850 as a partidista, supplying wine to other merchants from extensive Henriques vineyard holdings while continuing to amass significant stocks of old wines in the family cellars. In 1925, Henriques & Henriques began to bottle and export Madeira produced entirely from their own vineyards—an anomaly amongst producers on the island. Today, Henriques & Henriques is led by CEO and winemaker Humberto Jardim, one of Madeira’s great visionaries and ambassadors. The firm continues to source some of its needs from its own vineyards, most notably from a terraced, 10-hectare vineyard at Quinta Grande—the single largest on island, replanted in 1995.

The H&H Tinta Negra Single Harvest 1997 is a colheita bottling: an early-bottled vintage wine. (H&H prefer to use the term "Single Harvest," a rough translation of "Colheita.") A distinctive and even notorious madeira, the 1997 underwent an unusual élevage: some of the blend aging in new Iberian and American oak barrels destined for a Scotch whisky distillery. Made in the "Fine Rich" style—akin to a rich Boal or light Malmsey—it is the wood influence that distinguishes this edition: redolent of golden, vanilla-tinged citrus fruits, smoke and whisky-barrel oak tones—fascinating as it is unique.

Pairing Recommendations: With aged farmhouse cheeses and roasted nuts, or for dessert with crème caramel/brûlée, and all manner of chocolate- or coffee-based cakes. As a digestif: solo, or with a fuller-bodied cigar.