Verdelho

Verdelho is one of the four classic Madeira grapes, and in the island's hierarchy of styles it sits second from dry: drier than Bual and Malmsey, sweeter than Sercial. A Verdelho Madeira is fortified a little later in the fermentation than a Sercial, so more sugar remains, and it is then aged and heated in the same way.

The style that results is medium dry, smoky and honeyed, with dried apricot, orange peel and a hard line of acidity underneath that stops it feeling sweet. Like all Madeira it is effectively indestructible, because the wine has already been oxidised and heated on purpose, so nothing further can spoil it.

Its second career is in Australia, which is where most Verdelho now grows. Australian producers make a dry table white from it, and the Hunter Valley is its stronghold. That wine is a different proposition entirely: full bodied, low in acidity, with lime, honeydew melon and tropical fruit, and it is meant to be drunk within a few years of the vintage.