NV H.M. Borges - Madeira Malvasia 20 Year Old

H.M. Borges has remained a family-run Madeira house since 1877, when Henrique Menezes Borges began sourcing and aging select wines from across the island, and it stands today as one of the smallest producers still operating in Funchal. Now guided by the fourth generation of the family, the company continues to vinify and mature its wines in the same traditional style established over a century ago.

This wine is made exclusively from Malvasia grapes, known in English as Malmsey, grown on the island's north coast in the São Jorge area of Santana. Malvasia is Madeira's richest and sweetest classic variety, and here the wine is a blend drawn from stocks with an average age of 20 years, matured in American and French oak casks to build depth and concentration over time.

The finished wine shows a brownish topaz hue shaped by long contact with old oak, with an intense, perfumed nose of spice, orange zest, dried fruit, and toasted almond. On the palate it turns rich and sweet, though lively acidity keeps that sweetness in balance through a long, warming finish touched by caramel and curry. Serve as a digestif at the close of a meal, or pair with dark chocolate desserts.