Barbeito Signature "VB" Madeira Reserva

Vinhos Barbeito was founded in 1946 by Mario Barbeito de Vasconcelos who, in the early days, went around the island buying up large quantities of wine, some of it dating back to the 18th century. The company earned a reputation as the source of mature, aged Madeira as well as younger wines bought from small local wine makers. Today Ricardo Freitas, grandson of the founder, carries on the family tradition while simultaneously marketing a new line of single harvest and single cask Madeiras that are distinctly different in style. These new wines are not blends of many different wines over numerous vintages as has been the tradition in Madeira. They are instead an expression of unique characteristics of the climate, geography and geology of Madeira. This unique "terroir" driven style is new to the island and the resulting wines are prized for their balance and precision.

This is the second lot of rare blended Madeira that combines Verdelho and Boal grapes. Varietal names are not permitted on Madeira labels unless the wine contains at least 85% of the varietal in question, thus this wine is labeled 'VB' as a sort of coded  allusion to what is in the bottle. Two single casks of wine, one ("cask 12d") of 2001 Verdelho and another ("cask 46a") of 2003 Boal were aged separately and blended by Ricardo Freitas in roughly equal proportions (a bit more Verdelho than Boal) to create a medium dry wine with the bright acidity and dry nutty character of the Verdelho balancing the darker, richer, light raisiny character of the Boal.