Heating process Madeira (and some Moscatel) wines undergo during winemaking. The wine ages in big 50,000l enamelled cement tanks, which are equipped with a coil capable of heating them up to 40º-50ºC. Some wineries prefer to stack their casks in radiator heated rooms (estufas). But some privileged houses still have an old gantry, a barn exposed to the heat with temperatures reaching 45ºC in summer, getting colder at night. There, wines can age for years. Then, after four to five years, wines can pass to the lower floor, which is a little fresher. Thanks to any of these processes, one is able to get Madeira's traditional style. Sugars burn and caramelise with heat, while the wine gets its typical qualities. This is the version of the traditional winemaking methods, in which wines would go on a trip around the world, under tropical heat. Nowadays, a similar result is achieved heating wines in estufas for three to four months and letting them slowly cool down for 12 to 18 months, while they are racked.

 

Derivative from the main alcohol in wine (ethanol). It is detectable in the aroma (smell of oxidised apple), corresponding to the first stage of wine oxidation.

 

Name given to ethyl alcohol.

 

Perfumed, gently aromatic. The ethereal and spirituous character defines brandies.

 

An alcohol's reaction with a carboxylic acid, often catalysed by a mineral acid.

 

Ester obtained by combining acetic acid and ethanol. It provides firmness to red wines, but may also give them an unpleasant ethereous smell if used in excess (ascescence).

 

That has ethyl, characteristic of wine alcohol.

 

Alcoholism.

 

Terpenic oxide found in fermentation. It endows wine with a smell of eucalyptus.

 

Vegetable, balsamic, resinous smell resembling the pleasant aroma of eucalyptus leaves.