1937 D’Oliveira Madeira Sercial

1937 D’Oliveira Madeira Sercial

1937 D’Oliveira Madeira Sercial

Madeira Sercial is a type of varietal and fortified wine, produced on the Portuguese-owned island of Madeira where there is a long established history of wine production.

Madeira Sercial is at the lighter end of Madeira’s richness spectrum – Sercial is fresher and more acidic than Madeira Verdelho, though not as light as the Rainwater style, which developed a little later in Madeira’s winemaking history.

The style is ostensibly made from the Sercial grape variety, one of Madeira’s four “noble” varieties. However, prior to 1993 there were no laws in place to guarantee what was inside the bottle, and Madeira Sercial could easily have been made from Verdelho or, more likely, the high-yielding Tinta Negra Mole.

D’Oliveira is an independent Madeira wine producer. The company was founded in 1850 by Joao Pereira d’Oliveira and is perhaps best known for having an expansive library of old and rare Madeiras from the family’s São Martinho vineyards.

The cellar boasts vintages of Verdelho dating back to the company’s founding in 1850 as well as Malmsey, Bual and Sercial wines dating back to the 19th and early 20th centuries. There are also old vintages of Terrantez and Bastardo, rare grape varieties that are now almost extinct on the island.

Madeiras are aged in cask at D’Oliveira’s cellars, which were built in 1619, and produces some 150,000 liters of wine annually. Wines aged up to 10 years go through the Estufagem process, where the wine is heated in steel tanks to give it the characteristic caramelized flavor. The best wines, those aged for more than 15 years, are heated in barrels in warm, sun-drenched buildings. This is known as the Canteiro process.

D’Oliveira produces three-, five-, ten- and 15-year-old Madeiras, but the company’s best Madeiras are rare, high-quality wines aged for a minimum of 20 years. Bottling is only done according to demand which allows D’Oliveira the ability to age and mature Madeiras in cask for the longest possible amount of time.