The Barbeito company was founded in 1946 by Mario Barbeito on the island of Madeira. At the time, he focused on vintage wines on the one hand (as a financial cushion), but also produced simple Madeira wines. Since the mid-1990s, Ricardo Freitas Diogo has been running the business in the third generation. Today, the Barbeito company distinguishes itself from the competition, among other things, by its almost complete avoidance of adding caramel as a color and flavor enhancer.
Last week I drank a glass of very good Madeira from a bottle that my grandfather had opened 25 years ago.
Ricardo Diego Freitas, Barbeito Chief
This is how the originality of Madeira is preserved, this very special delicacy, which can hardly be compared with seemingly related dessert wines, such as Port and continental Sherry. Madeira is particularly suitable as an aperitif. Similar to Port wine, the fermentation of Madeira wine is also interrupted by the addition of high-proof brandy. As a result, not all the sugar ferments, and the wine retains a corresponding sweetness. Another trademark is the pronounced acidity, which generally results from the base wines (volcanic soils with low pH) and especially with Barbeito due to the purchase of the grapes shortly before their usual ripeness. The alcohol content is between 17 and 22 percent. The peculiarity of Madeira wine is its storage for five to eight months at an elevated temperature of up to 75 degrees Celsius. This used to take place in wooden barrels in the heat under a corrugated iron roof, but today it is mostly done artificially in a heated tank. As a result, Madeira wine is extremely long-lasting, and even an opened bottle can remain open for months without the wine going bad. Madeira wine is essentially made from five white grape varieties: Sercial, Verdelho, Bual, Terrantez, and Malvasia. In the red category, Tinta Negra Mole also joins them.
On the island, there is a clear separation between cultivation and processing: Producers receive the grapes from the hundreds of small farmers on the island, whose plots are rarely larger than a typical house garden. This island offers little suitable land for cultivation anyway, which is then planted with either grapes, bananas, or sugar cane.
The typical grape varieties of the island are the white Sercial, Verdelho, Boal, Terrantez, and Malmsey (Malvasia), as well as the red Tinta Negra Mole.

Manufacturer: Vinhos Barbeito, Estrada da Ribeira Garcia, Parque Empresarial de Câmara de Lobos, Lote 8, 9300-324 Câmara de Lobos, Portugal

Grape variety: Tinta Negra
Wine region: Madeira (Câmara de Lobos and São Vicente)
Alcohol content: 18.72% Vol.
Baumé: 3.1
pH level: 3.49
Residual sugar: 84.50 g/dm3
Vinification: The grapes are pressed in a pneumatic press. Fermentation is stopped by adding 96% alcohol as soon as the wine has reached the desired sweetness. The wine is then aged in French oak barrels for up to 5 years.