Salvaging Over-Sweet Madeira

[Mjx]

I'm extremely fond of Madeira, but cannot always find my preferred Boal, so I'll sometimes try something else. Usually, that's meant that I ended up with something drier, which has worked out well, but I recently picked up a bottle of Justino's 'Fine Rich', and it's... well, a bit icky, which may be inelegant, but so is this Madeira. It's not just that it's very sweet (seldom a problem for me), but it's unbalanced and extrmely heavy, it even smells too sweet.

Any one have experience/recommendations for other ingredients that might be mixed with this Madeira that would balance out/mitigate the aggressive syrupiness? I'm open to cocktail suggestions, too.

[Lisa Shock]

I'd use it for cocktails, a cobbler in particular. I'd just reduce the sugar content of a recipe a bit then adjust to taste.

[Mjx]

I'd use it for cocktails, a cobbler in particular. I'd just reduce the sugar content of a recipe a bit then adjust to taste.

Please elaborate on this a bit?

[lstrelau]

Not had this particular wine but there is a long long tradition of blending Madeira at home. In the 17 c on the eastern seaboard of USA Madeira was the wine of choice (being fortified and fully oxidized it was indestructible and therefore travelled and kept well).

There were Madeira clubs in many cities and the members kept extensive collections of various Madeiras. They routinely created their own blends designed to suit their individual palates.

So, no reason you couldn't find a nice dry Sercial with its typical fierce acidity and use that to take your Justino's down to a level of a Boal that would suit you.

I would try it first with a fractional amount, keep notes and once you find a blend you like you could do the whole bottle. If you can't get a nice blend in your trials then quit rather than waste a good bottle of Sercial and use the Rich in a sauce for beef or something.

[Plantes Vertes]

There's a short thread about Cobblers here (somewhat tangential to your interests perhaps), and maybe something in here could be useful cocktail-wise.

Edited to make a sensible sentence.

Edited June 14, 2013 by Plantes Vertes (log)

[Lisa Shock]

The basic sherry cobbler recipe from Jerry Thomas is:

4 oz sherry

2-3 slices orange

2 bar-spoons sugar

It's shaken with ice, hard. Then, it gets garnished with lots of berries.

You could try this without sugar and see how it goes, maybe add bitters. Berries are in season right now, which is why I thought of this drink. Here are more cobbler ideas.