Madeira in London

[Vikram]

Maybe I should have posted this in the UK section, but I'm hoping someone here can help. I'm thinking of writing an article on the wines exported to India by the East India Company in the 18th and 19th centuries and madeira formed pretty much the bulk of it.

This isn't an academic piece - someone has done that, a very informative essay with lots of figures - more a feature, and I'd like to try madeira for it since I never have. A friend is coming from London (I live in Bombay) in a few days and could conceivably be persuaded to buy a couple of bottles if given exact address of wine seller and which bottle to buy. The only seller I know of is Oddbins and according to the site they only seem to have two madeira labels in stock, so I don't know if this would be a good place to buy.

Can anyone help? I'd like to know the name of some reasonably accessible shop in London where I might be able to find something, and if you could suggest which bottle to buy for a representative taste of madeira that would be great. I've read that there's quite a variety of stuff available, from wine only fit for cooking to really old stuff which would probably be completely unavailable and unaffordable. As I said, I'm looking for something just reasonably representative - and hopefully reasonably priced too! - that can give me an idea of this style.

Is there much consumption of madeira these days? I've read of a Madeira Society in Savannah that still goes for the stuff, but other recent references seem scarce.

Vikram

[Daniel Rogov]

Older Madeira wines are available primarily through auctions at Christies or Sotheby's. For younger wines, try Berry Brothers & Rudd at 3 St James's Street in London. Their choices can be seen at

http://www.bbr.com/GB/shopping/list.lml?se...WGX5BZL0P0700HZ

[Dan Ryan]

Most of the supermarkets carry a madeira or three.

Waitrose (a partnership, and so a bit more ethical) usually have the Henriques & Henriques range. You could easily pick up all four of the varieties (I think they come in 50 cl bottles). They are excellent too.

[SBonner]

Berry Brothers will have a decent selection available.

Cheers,

Stephen Bonner

[Jon Tseng]

Also try Fine & Rare Wines for the mouthwatering, but the eye-wateringly priced

www.frw.co.uk

J