Travels And Tribulations: QUARANTINE BLOG # 187

October 3, 2020

Madeira wine was perhaps the most popular luxury beverage in the colonial Western Hemisphere during the 17th and 18th centuries.

In 1880, Henry Vizettly, an English writer, described a 13 acre vineyard in Funchal that dated back to 1749. The grapes were picked eight times, gathering only ripe bunches on each occasion. “The pickers,” he says, “were barefooted women, in white gowns and white linen jackets with red and yellow kerchiefs tied over their heads https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy52S0jNnAI.

The women’s pay was equal to only 7.5 pence per day ($2.85 today), while the men who collected the grapes and trod them in the lagar received an equivalent to 1s. 3d ($5.70).”

Vizettly’s description of the crushing of the grapes makes me exhausted just thinking about what went into it.

“Grapes to produce 125 gallons of wine are spread level in the lagar, while 60 men get ready to stomp them. The treaders form opposing rows of ten men each placing their arms on each other’s shoulders, and commence work by raising and lowering their feet, calling out, ‘Certo, Esquerda!’ (Right, left!) varying this with songs and shoutings in order to keep the weaker and lazier ones working.” Taking part with them in the treading is a band of musicians. The first treading lasts, with relays of fresh men, for eighteen hours.

Check out this song which salutes the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcDK65Y-PwI.

After crushing, fermentation begins, then the wine is heated, rested for 90 days, and then finished with brandy. These wines may never be bottled and sold before the 31st of October of the second year following the harvesting. Because of this unique process, Madeira is a very robust wine that can be quite long lived even after being opened.

Madeira was an important wine in the history of the United States of America. One of the major events on the road to revolution was the British seizure of John Hancock’s sloop the Liberty on May 9, 1768. Liberty was carrying a cargo of 3,150 gallons of Madeira, The seizure of the Liberty caused riots to erupt in Boston.

John Hancock

Madeira was a favorite of Thomas Jefferson, and it was used to toast the Declaration of Independence. The celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence was far from a sober affair. The bar-tab for the 55 delegates included 54 bottles of Madeira with a whole lot of other stuff thrown in, too.

George Washington drank a pint of Madeira every day with dinner. A letter his dentist warns Washington that his love of wine was “staining and softening his ivory teeth.”

Benjamin Franklin’s personal wine cellar is said to have contained more than 1000 bottles. He once joked he should be buried in it: “I should prefer to an ordinary death, being immersed with a few friends in a cask of Madeira.”

Franklin wrote in his autobiography, “Wine is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

Madeira was a special retreat for Winston Churchill.

He first visited Madeira on October 17, 1899. He was sailing to South Africa as a newspaper correspondent covering the Boer War. He was captured in early November, 1899, and taken to a prisoner of war camp from which he escaped four weeks later.

Churchill is on the far right.

He did not visit the island for another 50 years. However, while visiting in 1950, his hosts opened a rare 1792 vintage as a tribute to Mr. Churchill. Drinking it he said, “My God, do you realize this Madeira was made when Marie Antoinette was still alive?”

On January 1, 1950, Churchill decided to take some time to relax and rejuvenate his spirits before the last of his elections as Prime Minister for England.

He climbed the stairs of the harbor to enter the city and was greeted “with affection and enthusiasm” by the people, the newspaper reported. “I have been greeted by many people in the world for whom I’ve done something, but never in my life have I ever been greeted with such enthusiasm by people for whom I’ve never done anything.”

Churchill occupied his time admiring the landscapes of Madeira.

He meandered through the streets of Funchal, and was well received by the local town folk. Churchill often responded to salutations with his traditional V symbol.

Churchill’s visit to Madeira in 1950 was cut short by the earlier than expected call to elections in Britain. The early general election announced by the then Prime Minister, Mr. Atlee, forced Churchill to leave Madeira on the 12th of January 1950. The elections that would lead to his second and last premiership.

Let’s end with some “Churchill-isms.”

● “I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”

● Lady Nancy Astor, the first female member of the British Parliament to take a seat, said, “Winston if I were married to you, I’d poison your tea.” Churchill replied, “Madam, if you were my wife, I’d drink it.”

● At a social gathering, Betsy Braddock, a another member of Parliament said, “Winston, you’re drunk!” Churchill replied, “Betsy, you’re ugly! But tomorrow I shall be sober, and you will still be ugly.”

● “Short words are best and the old words when short are best of all.” So with that in mind, I will show you some more pictures of this beautiful island, and bring this blog of Madeira, its history, its wine, and its visitors to a close.