Madeira Wine. Madeira is a fortified Portuguese wine made in the Madeira Islands. Madeira is produced in a variety of styles ranging from dry wines which can be consumed on their own as an aperitif, to sweet wines more usually consumed with dessert. Ever popular in kitchens around the world for use in cooking with its rich intense flavours and keeping ability. Madeira is aged either naturally as for the vintage (Frasqueria) wines in cask for over 20 years or the process is accelerated through heating for the non-vintage wines. There are four Noble grape varieties used for the vintage wines each with a different level of sweetness. Sercial is the driest style, followed by Verdelho which is medium dry, Bual (Boal) medium sweet and Malvasia (Malmsey) the sweetest.
