95 points John Gilman

homas Jefferson was a great connoisseur of Madeira wine, and like many of these early fans of the wines, he had a particular blend that he was most fond of, which he noted was one-tenth of a sweet old Malmsey with nine-tenths a drier wine like Verdelho. The Rare Wine Company’s Jefferson Special Reserve is made with that Jefferson preference in mind, being comprised of one tenth wine produced from some of the last Malvasia Candida grapes on the island, with this wine blended into a fine, dry Madeira to replicate the blend favored by Thomas Jefferson. Some of the wines in this blend are more than eighty years of age! The bouquet is deep and vibrant, offering up a lovely nose of figs, cherries, toasted almonds, a touch of sweet prune, lovely soil tones, a bit of rancio and a topnote of orange peel. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and really very snappy, with a fine core, lovely elegance and lift on the very long and focused finish. This is a beautiful wine that can still be found out there in the market (I bought a bottle a couple of days after I returned from the island) and I strongly urge folks who think they might be interested to rush out and secure a bottle before it disappears from the marketplace, as this is truly a brilliant wine and a steal in the context of what such quality wines from the island cost these days!