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Madeira at the table

Madeira wine in glasses on tasting mat

A campaign launched to free Madeira from its before- and after-dinner status and put it straight on the dinner table. You'll see: it works!

Traditional wisdom, even in Madeira (as I noticed when visiting in 2020/21), is that Madeira wine is an aperitif or digestif wine. Pretty much every restaurant and wine bar I went to listed Madeira by the glass together with sparkling wine and cocktails in the aperitivo section (Sercial and Verdelho) or at the end of the drinks menu with port, brandy and cognac (Bual and Malmsey). Victoria Moore, in The Wine Dine Dictionary, writes...