0:00
Hey, I'm Jocelyn and this is my good friend Sandra and it is Friday Cocktail Day
0:05
Instead of a normal cocktail today though, we're going to have some Madeira wine
0:10
Or, um, Madeira. Madeira. I just say it in the States. Yes
0:15
So, um, I used to live in Portugal and Madeira is an island that is part of Portugal
0:21
So, I have a different experience with this than what you do
0:25
But Madeira actually has a very, it's actually an important part of our, like, liquor, wine history
0:33
Right. So I'm going to let you go ahead and talk about the history of it
0:37
and then I'll talk about maybe some things that we've done more at modern times
0:42
Right. It's just a brief history of during the age of exploration, back when Columbus and other people were sailing seven seas and discovering the new world
0:55
Madeira became wildly wildly popular all over the world It was extremely popular here in the United States or I would say the colonies in the 18th and into the 19th century early 19th century primarily I believe Jefferson famously was in debt always to his wine merchant because of his problem
1:18
with his loan for Madeira. So it's a great historic wine. It's got a sweetness to it
1:27
It's a fortified wine, which means it will never go bad. You can buy a bottle of this and it will last the rest of your life
1:33
You can pass it down. because you're going to drink it. Yeah, if you're foolish, you can pass it down
1:40
But it doesn't turn into vinegar the way other table wines would
1:44
So it has a huge range of flavors. There are some that you can have with a aperitif
1:50
This one is quite a bit sweeter, but it's not super sweet
1:56
I personally love this for dessert with a salty cheese or a sharp cheddar
2:01
It's so nice. Well, I love salty and sugary things together. This is, there's a lot of berries in this one, I think, too
2:11
And you find it really you don have to be like a wine snob to appreciate the differences in Madera because it is it very obvious to me right absolutely um yeah this is a fun one to start with this is um from the rare wine company and they make four
2:29
different versions of Madeira and there's a Savannah a Charleston a Boston in New York and um
2:37
Savannah being the southernmost city they were all important Madeira cities and colonies and
2:44
The Savannah is the driest. It's a verdillo. And as you go up the four cities, you get to the sweeter, a little bit lighter-bodied ones
2:52
Somebody said New York was sweet. I think they went the wrong way
2:58
I love New York, so. Yeah, but it's not something I would describe as sweet
3:02
But dry, I would. So, anywho, that's my personal opinion. Yes, I've been sipping on this as you've been talking because I love Madera
3:10
One of my favorite uses for Madera is as a sauce. There was this great little mom and pop tashka, which is just like a mom and pop restaurant right across the street from our apartment in Lisbon
3:23
And I swear to you I got completely addicted to this beef at the Madeira And it was just a really thin slice of steak I don even know what cut because it not they not necessarily the same
3:36
as what we have, but she made a Madeira wine sauce with mushrooms and a little bit of garlic and she
3:42
cooked it down. So it was really thick and almost like a gravy, but wine. Oh my gosh. It was just so
3:50
decadent. I swear to you, I ate at least one of those a week and I gained about five pounds in
3:55
the first two weeks that I've lived. I think I ate more than one a week that first couple
4:00
that first month I didn't cook much. I just ate at all the local restaurants. But Madeira is
4:04
something that you'll find all over Portugal too. I mean, it's, but it's funny that I moved from
4:10
Savannah and I knew all this stuff about Madeira wine and then I moved to Portugal and I saw it
4:16
from a different perspective. But anyway, it's a wonderful, lovely drink, and it's nice to have an aperitivo
4:24
or, you know, like you said, just have it after dinner as a dessert. Or just because
4:29
Just because, yes. Cheers. Cheers, sister. Cheers. We'll see you next Friday for our next cocktail
