lOS EXCURSIONS IN MADEIRA 



di|ce the best Madeira wine, or that made in the southern part of 

 the island, which is principally indebted for its flavour to the two 

 latter. The tinta, when separated, produces a wine closely re- 

 sembling Burgundy, in colour and flavour, when new, but much 

 softer ; becoming very like tawny port after it has been about two 

 years in the cask ; and not distinguishable, either in colour or 

 flavour, from rich old Madeira, at the end of twenty years. It is 

 the only red wine made in the island, and is suffered to ferment 

 with the husks of the fruit remaining in it, to fix the colour. It 

 would retain the character of Burgundy longer, were it bottled 

 earlier, but then there is the probability of its acquiring a bad 

 flavour from the sediment. The paler vines, such as the pure 

 verdelho or north wine, acquire an amber hue with age ; whereas, 

 those whose husks impart some portion of colour to the juice 

 during pressure, grow lighter with age. The sercial° is said to be 

 the hock grape, brought from Europe ; this I cannot speak to, 

 having no description of the hock grape, but it strikes me, that 

 although the sercial is a dry wine, it is very unlike hock of an age 



rounded ; it is slightly downy at the back, (the nerves strong and projecting) and of 

 a dark yellow green, inclining a little to red at the base. The bastardo leaf is 

 rounder than most others ; its lobes are indistinctly marked, and the dentations are 

 large and sharp ; it is of a light yellow green, downy at the back, and the whole 

 assumes a cockled appearance. Four of the sinuses of the bual leaf are very deep 

 and sharp ; the two lower are indistinct ; the dentations are sharp and irregular ; the 

 leaf is hairy on both sides. There are two varieties of tinta, the largest has seven 

 lobes, decreasing in size, and the sinuses very deep and rounded ; the middle lobe 

 is subdivided into two others, both indistinct ; the smaller is of a more compact form, 

 and the lower sinuses much less deep than the others ; both are of a dark green with 

 purple spots, and downy at the back. 



° The leaf of the sercial has four rounded sinuses ; the nerves are very strong, and 

 by their projections give a cockled appearance to the leaf; it is of a very yellow 

 green, and cottony on both sides. It is said to grow best under precipices, in places 

 which attract the clouds, and as the husk is very thick, is left longer than the others 

 to ripen. 



