Madeira Wine in NYC?

[gaijingirl]

Anyone know where to find good Madeira Wine in NYC? I'm a huge fan of port, sherry and Japanese Plum Wine (Ume-shu), and have heard that Madeira is the obvious thing for me to try.

Can't afford alot - hopefully a bottle under $30. But does anyone know of good suppliers, brands? Thanks in advance for any information! (If it's in time for my Christmas party in three weeks, even better...!)

[craig_g]

PJs claims to have the Rare Wine Co.'s Boston Bual for $39.99, which, though a little over your ideal budget, is a great introduction to Madeira. For best results you should decant at least a day before you drink it. Older Madeiras can take several days in decanter to show their best.

[gaijingirl]

Thanks for the input. I headed over to Astor Wines today (never been before - wow, it's nice). Picked up two bottles: Blandy's 5 year old Madeira, and Florio Marsala (Sweet).

I'm crossing my fingers that they'll be everything I hope...

So, I should actually decant the Madeira a day before serving??

[jasmurph]

There's no need to decant. I'm sure you're aware the marsala is not madeira, but it would be interesting to hear how it is. I've not met many Marsalas that were worth drinking in addition to cooking with them.

[gaijingirl]

Okay, I admit...I opened the Marsala ahead of time. Not bad. Granted, I have a *major* sweet tooth when it comes to wine (and even admit to the guilty, guilty pleasure of actually *liking* Manischewitz), but the Marsala was nice. Sweet, with a distinct dry aftertaste. Of course, I expect the Madeira to be heads and tails better...but still..

Incidentally, how best should Marsala be used for cooking? (Got to use up the rest of it, after all...)

[jasmurph]

You can make a nice mushroom risotto with it.

[The Chowhound Team]

Hi Folks - please post any suggestions about cooking with Marsala on the Home Cooking board and the OP can start a thread on the subject there. You are welcome to post "pointer" here.

[gaijingirl]

Okay - got to try to Medeira. Honestly, wasn't overly impressed. It was sweet - but not as sweet as port. And it had a sort of plumy overtone. I'd been hoping for more.... and definitely stll prefer Port (and Umeshu!)

[craig_g]

Which of their Madeiras did you try? It looks like Astor sells 5-years from all 4 of the major grapes, which will vary quite a bit in sweetness. Malmsey (sometimes labelled Malvasia or Malvazia) is the sweetest, which may be worth a shot if you plan to give it another try. It sounds like whatever you got was just kind of boring.

Madeira is a *very* high acid wine, so that might be off-putting if you're not a fan of that. FWIW, even though I really like Blandy's older vintage Madeiras, I've never been much of a fan of their commercial bottlings.

One nice thing is that Madeira is basically immortal once you open it. It'll be at least six months before it even really starts to degrade, so it's a wine you can justify spending a little over your normal price range.

[gaijingirl]

Craig -

Actually, the one I tried was the 5 year Malmsey...! (One correction to my previous post...it actually had a 'pruney' taste...not plumish...) It was sweet, but not *overly* sweet (not port level sweet, anyway.)

Thanks for the info anyway...I'm always up to trying new things, because otherwise you'll never know if there's something right around the corner that you're really missing out on....

[chanbny]

Astor Place has Madeira.

[jasmurph]

Pretty much any decent wine store (i.e. not a corner liquor store) will carry some Madeira, which ranges in price from $12 to as much as $2000. The good news is that most any madeira is going to be good; there are no Yellowtails or other critter drinks lurking in the marketplace. Price does reflect quality, so spend as much as you feel comfortable with.

[Brian S]

Lisbon Liquor Store
114 Ferry St (near PATH, in Ironbound)
Newark, N.J.
[phone]

(You should call before you go to make sure they have a good Madeira selection)

This store has a full selection of everything Portuguese and alcoholic. A big selection of expensive port, a huge choice of fine Portuguese wine and, if your fraternity is throwing a kegger, they have five-quart plastic bottles of vino for $16.

[Desidero]

I had a good glass of Mediera at Veritas. I don't know the specifics, but Veritas takes its wine seriously and should have a good selection of Madeiras.