1880 Facts about Port and Madeira by Henry Vizetelly

Some other Funchal Wine-Stores.

19&

"the sun, was remarkably fine in fiavour and possessed a peculiar :and delicate bouquet. Their Cama de Lobos was also distin- ;guished for its bouquet,aud we were struck with a very soft old wine, the result of a slight blend of Malmsey with a fine Ver- ■delho. The firm does a considerable trade in bottled wines, principally withFrance and Germany. A large holder of fine wine in Funchal, who is not a shipper hut a partidista, to whom the shippers have recourse to replenish their stocks when these run low, is an Italian gentleman. Signer Augusto C. Bianchi. His stores jjartly overlook the Pra9a da Constituicao. Here we made acquaintance with some rich Sao Martinho of 1873 and 1874, from a vineyardbelonging to Signer Bianehi, matured exclusively by sun heat—soft, and with a very fine aroma; a Bual from selected grapes from the same vineyard, ■very dehcate, but -with a slight sub-bitterness of flavour; a Bual from Campanario fifteen years old, rich and almost oily in -character; together with some Verdelho palhetinho, pale in -colour, as its name implies, and with a soft sub-bitter flavour. In the stores adjoining Signor Bianchi's house, which, with its •covered-in courtyard, whitewashed walls, curious arched en- -trances, and small windows pierced here and there, had quite an ■Oriental aspect, we were sho'wn some exceedingly old and very pungent Cama de Lobos, together •with a couple of samples of vinho velhissimo, one extremely delicate and the other remark- .ably potent. Senhor Cunha, who ships principally to England, Germany, :and Kussia, has a series of particularly fine Verdelhos, ranging from 1857 to 1873; some dry delicate Sercials, more than a quarter of a century old; a rich pungent Bual, already in its thirtieth year; a younger wine of the same variety, with a soft delicious flavour, and admirably adapted for a dessert wine; with a Malmsey something like five-and-twenty years of age, luscious and refined, and beautifully rounded. Leal Irmads e Oia., whose principal stores are situated in the extreme eastern •quarter of Funchal, have a considerable stock of both old and joung growths, many of the former being of a high-class cha-