DECANTER - 94 POINTS Pale copper, delicate by design, a nod to the lighter styles that filled colonial glasses 250 years ago. Dried chamomile and preserved tangerine on the nose, the palate a gentle honeycomb and brown sugar sweetness with a savory sesame edge and bracing finish. Pair with a benne wafer.
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Madeira wine has strong origins in colonial America and was used to salute the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, according to historical accounts. In the years preceding the Revolution, it became profoundly ingrained in colonial American society, valued for its capacity to endure lengthy maritime trips without spoiling. Across the colonies, it was frequently served at formal events, festivals, and political meetings. Notably, 78 bottles of Madeira were ordered on a single evening at New York's Fraunces Tavern, according to a 1776 dinner bill for General Washington.
This exclusive, rare bottling is a blend of five old Madeiras made from the varietals: Bual, Verdelho, Sercial, Bastardo and Tinta Negra. An 80- year-old Tinta Negra makes up 15% of this blend. In the glass, this liquid is light amber color and medium dry on the palate. Nuanced flavors of citrus, dried apricot and florals radiate to the imbiber. While sophisticated, is Madeira is elegant, nimble and high-toned with a variety of alluring flavors, complete with a mineral-laced saline tension on the finish.
IMPORTER NOTES:
On July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, the 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress toasted the newly adopted Declaration of Independence the best way they knew how: with Madeira. It was an inevitable choice. Madeira was not only the Americans’ most prized wine; it was for them the only wine worthy of such an important moment.
For a quarter century, The Rare Wine Co. has celebrated the reverence that early Americans had for Madeira. And we’ve done so through a series of remarkable Madeiras honoring people and places with a strong historical connection to the wine.
Among the honorees have been American seaports that were centers for Madeira trading, and such founders as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Benjamin Franklin.
We now pay tribute to what historian Joseph Ellis has called "the most potent and consequential words in American history,” the Declaration of Independence, which celebrates its 250th birthday on July 4th, 2026. And we do so with arguably the greatest of our “Historic Series” Madeiras yet.
Created for us by Barbeito’s brilliant winemaker, Ricardo Freitas, the Declaration of Independence Madeira is based on years of historical research by RWC’s founder Mannie Berk and fellow Madeira historian, Aaron Nix-Gomez.
It captures a style of Madeira favored in 1776 America: refined, elegant, a pale copper color, with its very modest sweetness balanced by bracing acidity, and featuring an aromatic complexity that, in the 18th century, would have been imparted by a long ocean voyage in barrel.
To create this richly evocative Madeira, Ricardo blended five old Madeiras from his priceless collection of barrels and demijohns. Balancing power with bracing salinity, 15% of the blend was a magnificent 80-year-old Tinta Negra, while 8% was a 1991 Vintage Sercial. The vines that produced the Sercial are so close to the sea on the island’s north coast, the grapes are often bathed in sea spray during the growing season.
It is a measure of Ricardo’s blending mastery that the five components represent five different grape varieties—Bual, Verdelho, Bastardo, Tinta Negra and Sercial—all seamlessly integrated.
***
Madeira wine has strong origins in colonial America and was used to salute the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, according to historical accounts. In the years preceding the Revolution, it became profoundly ingrained in colonial American society, valued for its capacity to endure lengthy maritime trips without spoiling. Across the colonies, it was frequently served at formal events, festivals, and political meetings. Notably, 78 bottles of Madeira were ordered on a single evening at New York's Fraunces Tavern, according to a 1776 dinner bill for General Washington.
This exclusive, rare bottling is a blend of five old Madeiras made from the varietals: Bual, Verdelho, Sercial, Bastardo and Tinta Negra. An 80- year-old Tinta Negra makes up 15% of this blend. In the glass, this liquid is light amber color and medium dry on the palate. Nuanced flavors of citrus, dried apricot and florals radiate to the imbiber. While sophisticated, is Madeira is elegant, nimble and high-toned with a variety of alluring flavors, complete with a mineral-laced saline tension on the finish.
IMPORTER NOTES:
On July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, the 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress toasted the newly adopted Declaration of Independence the best way they knew how: with Madeira. It was an inevitable choice. Madeira was not only the Americans’ most prized wine; it was for them the only wine worthy of such an important moment.
For a quarter century, The Rare Wine Co. has celebrated the reverence that early Americans had for Madeira. And we’ve done so through a series of remarkable Madeiras honoring people and places with a strong historical connection to the wine.
Among the honorees have been American seaports that were centers for Madeira trading, and such founders as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Benjamin Franklin.
We now pay tribute to what historian Joseph Ellis has called "the most potent and consequential words in American history,” the Declaration of Independence, which celebrates its 250th birthday on July 4th, 2026. And we do so with arguably the greatest of our “Historic Series” Madeiras yet.
Created for us by Barbeito’s brilliant winemaker, Ricardo Freitas, the Declaration of Independence Madeira is based on years of historical research by RWC’s founder Mannie Berk and fellow Madeira historian, Aaron Nix-Gomez.
It captures a style of Madeira favored in 1776 America: refined, elegant, a pale copper color, with its very modest sweetness balanced by bracing acidity, and featuring an aromatic complexity that, in the 18th century, would have been imparted by a long ocean voyage in barrel.
To create this richly evocative Madeira, Ricardo blended five old Madeiras from his priceless collection of barrels and demijohns. Balancing power with bracing salinity, 15% of the blend was a magnificent 80-year-old Tinta Negra, while 8% was a 1991 Vintage Sercial. The vines that produced the Sercial are so close to the sea on the island’s north coast, the grapes are often bathed in sea spray during the growing season.
It is a measure of Ricardo’s blending mastery that the five components represent five different grape varieties—Bual, Verdelho, Bastardo, Tinta Negra and Sercial—all seamlessly integrated.
