11 January, 2010
Cribari Cellars California Madeira — Wine Review
Comments : 4 Posted in : Fortified Wine, Madeira, Wine on by : The Gourmez
Wine: Cribari Cellars California Madeira
Region: California
This is my first madeira, which I accidentally bought instead of marsala for a recipe. My quick googling informs me that Madeira is a fortified sherry wine with some Muscatel thrown in and is used as a dessert and cooking wine. It’s heated up to reproduce oxidation that it would receive from a long voyage overseas. Crazy.
It smells like sherry, but has a reddish sheen as compared to the more typical amber of sherries. This gives me hope I might like it as I’m rather sick of sherry at present. It also smells like a warmed fruit and brandy sauce, maybe peach.
The taste is much better than the sherries I’ve had, luckily. The alcohol punch is there but not too strong, and it’s less syrupy in texture. It tickles my tongue a little. When drinking, the taste is closer to apricot than the peach I smelled. There’s a lot of caramel and a little green apple and vanilla.
This is a wine with a lot of flavors and I’d take it over a regular sherry anyday. Port is still the winner in the dessert category, however.
Other Bloggers’ Thoughts:
Could not find any other blogger reviews. Let me know if you have reviewed it!
2 stars
Reviewed by The Gourmez 1.1.10.
4 thoughts on : Cribari Cellars California Madeira — Wine Review
I love Madeira but have never tried Cribari California Madeira before. I’ll have to get it sometime and give it a shot, especially since it’s using a different base and sweeteners than traditional Madeira’s (grapes are made into wine, several days after fermentation starts grape grain spirits and concentrated grape juice [if desired, it’s for sweetness] are added).
I’m drinking Cossart Gordon’s Rainwater Medium Dry Madeira right now and highly recommend it. It smells great, isn’t very sweet and is affordable (where I live it’s $15 a bottle). Sandeman also make one, but I prefer Cossart Gordon’s.
I will definitely see if I can get a bottle! Thanks for the recommendation.
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Madeira is awesome. Great with mushrooms.