Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/148134
Final Results: The Great Texas Madeira Showdown The Red Room Lounge, Austin, Texas, June 12, 2013 Rankings: Favilla Viera 1920 Malvasia ($325)* Haak 2006 Texas Madeira Blanc du Bois ($65)** New York Malmsey Historic Series ($46.50)* Barbeito 1863 Bual ($575)* Boston Bual Historic Series ($46.50)* D'Oliveira 1977 Terrantez ($129.95)* Haak 2008 Texas Madeira Blanc du Bois ($65)** Barbeito 1885 Verdelho ($495)* Charleston Sercial Historic Series ($46.50)* D'Oliveira 1937 Sercial ($275)* THE TASTING PANEL Magazine conducted a blind tasting of two of Haak's madeiras with eight from Portugal. *Current retail price furnished by the Rare Wine Company, Sonoma, CA **Limited availability from Haak Vineyards & Winery but surely. In the past decade madeira has finally begun to find some momentum as well as its domestic footing again thanks to winemakers like Haak (who, coincidentally, did toast the 4th of July with madeira). After falling in love with the wonderfully complex madeiras on a trip to Portugal, he returned to Texas and eventually built his own estufa (a traditional Portuguese heated room in which to age his barrels) at his winery and discovered that he could recreate some of the fragrances and deep, rich flavors of the wines he tasted on Madeira. Although a 2006 agreement between the U.S. and the European Union restricted labeling such wines produced in other countries as "madeira," Haak was "grandfathered in" and is exempt because his product and his "Texas Madeira" label existed before the agreement went into effect. Today, Haak is the only Texan and one of a few Americans legally allowed to label their fortified and heat-aged wines as "madeira." The most common madeira varietals are (from driest to sweetest) Sercial, Verdelho, Bual and Malvasia. Haak's first vintage used Jacquez (known also as Black Spanish or Lenoir), but now he produces his Texas Madeira mainly from Blanc du Bois, a white grape developed last century at the University of Florida that has proven itself to be very well-suited to hot, humid states. (In addition to being an American madeira pioneer, Haak was also an early champion of Blanc du Bois in Texas and elsewhere in the South.) The Blind Tasting Experiment Not simply satisfied with the right to use the "madeira" name, from the beginning Haak intended to actually produce world-class madeira, and he's always been willing to put that reputation on the line. That's just what happened this past June at the Red Room Lounge, in Austin, Texas, as THE TASTING PANEL conducted a blind tasting of two of Haak's madeiras with eight from Portugal. A hand-selected 12-person panel—composed of sommeliers, wine retailers, wine writers and other industry professionals—assembled to evaluate these ten wines on traditional criteria including color, aroma, body, finish and overall quality. Since this tasting included Madeiras composed of different varietals, different styles and different ages, the results (Haak and THE TASTING PANEL concede) do not clearly demonstrate the superiority of one wine over another. However, the afternoon of tasting clearly showed that, despite the youth of Haak's wines, they can definitely stand on the same stage as the great madeiras of Portugal. "Of course, I am pleased," Haak says of the results. And although he freely admits that "when ultra-premium wines are tasted blind, it is very difficult to determine ranking among them," he remains encouraged that the country will continue to rediscover this wonderful and patriotic wine. "I think it is past due for America's wine lovers to step up and taste and enjoy our beautiful past." Haak Vineyards Texas Madeira. august 2013 / the tasting panel / 113 TP0813_104-132.indd 113 7/24/13 9:41 PM