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In his Big Book of Wine, Oberon Kant asks us, “What use is a wine to anyone unless it’s 20 years old?” We wouldn’t quite go that far but this rare wine makes for compelling evidence in support of that statement.
Historically considered to be the great grape of Madeira, Terrantez, was introduced in the late 1600's. By the 18th and 19th centuries Terrantez was producing what many experts considered to be the greatest wines of the island. However, the 1852 oidium outbreak destroyed most of the Terrantez vines, followed by phylloxera which put paid to the rest. Nowadays the variety is practically extinct and efforts to revive the plantings have been hampered by the grape's low-yielding nature and susceptibility to rot and to mildew in Madeira's humid climate. Henriques farm several tiny parcels of rare Terrantez, and are recognised as one of the leading producers of wines made with this variety.