Verdelho Frasqueira
⏳ Drinking Window
2024 - 2100
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
cured meats, roasted nuts, consomme, semi-hard cheeses
✨ Technical Specifications
Pereira D'Oliveira's Verdelho Frasqueira represents the pinnacle of vintage Madeira, sourced from the steep, volcanic terraces of the island. Verdelho grapes are harvested to produce a medium-dry (meio seco) style of wine. Under the traditional canteiro system, the wine is aged in seasoned oak casks in warm lofts, subjected to gentle, natural heating over decades. This slow, oxidative process, combined with Verdelho's naturally high acidity, creates a wine of extraordinary complexity. D'Oliveira is legendary for holding their Frasqueiras in cask far longer than the required 20 years, only bottling them upon demand. The resulting wine displays a striking amber hue with complex aromas of dried orange peel, smoky wood, toasted nuts, and a signature tangy acidity that balances its delicate sweetness.
🍾 About the Producer
Pereira D'Oliveira (widely known simply as D'Oliveira) is one of Madeira's most historic and revered independent shippers, established in 1850 by João Pereira D'Oliveira. Anchored in central Funchal within cellars dating back to 1619, the house is directed by the fifth and sixth generations of the D'Oliveira family, with managing director Luís D'Oliveira and head winemaker Filipe D'Oliveira preserving ancestral practices. While historically cultivating vineyards in São Martinho, the house now sources grapes from over one hundred long-contracted growers farming rugged, steep volcanic terraces across the subtropical Atlantic island. D'Oliveira's vinous signature is defined by exceptional power, bracing natural acidity, and unmatched oxidative concentration achieved through classical canteiro aging in ancient oak vats. The lodge holds one of the planet's most formidable libraries of vintage Madeira, bottling centuries-old Frasqueiras on demand, led by monumental vintage bottlings of Sercial, Verdelho, Boal, Malvazia Cândida, and extraordinarily rare aged expressions of Terrantez, Moscatel, and single-harvest Tinta Negra.
🍇 Grapes
Verdelho
🍷 ABV
19-20%