10 Year Old Malmsey, Blandy's

Wine Variety: This is one of the many varieties that go by the name Malvasia, many of which are not inter-related in any way. This version, grown on the island of madeira (where it's known as Malvasia Candida) is also grown in Sardinia, the Canary Islands and Lipari, one of the Eolian Sialnds off the north coast of Sicily. It produces an aromatic, grapy, orange-y wine that retains good acidity.

Wine Region: A Portuguese-owned island off the north-west coast of Africa,m Madeira was used as a staging post by ships travelling to the four corners of the world. Ships watered and victualled when calling at the island and, in the late 17th century, started loading barrels of madeira wine - perhaps as ballast - for the journey to India. It was quickly discovered that wine from barrels that had journeyed through the tropics was better than that from those that that hadn't. When this activity become impractical in the 19th century, madeira houses started replicating the process in specially built ovens called estufas. The best madeiras, however, are made by exposing the barrels to the sun by open windows in the winery.

Wine Producer: Blandys have been on the island of Madeira since 1811 and are erstwhile owners of the famous Reid's Hotel. In the disastrous outbreak of powdery mildew in 1852, Charles Blandy bought up vast stocks of mature madeira wine, thereby assuring the success and reputation of the Blandy family. The Madeira Wine Company in which the Blandy family came to have a majority stakeholding brought together all the British shippers on the island in the early 20th century. Control of that organisation was acquired by the Symington family - major producers of port wine - in the 1980s