Nineteen Sixty-Six, Slowly
1966 Madeira for a friend's 60th birthday
The ask
My oldest friend turned sixty in February. Born 1966. I was abroad and missed it. He drinks slowly, one glass a night, and keeps a bottle open for weeks. I'd like to give him his birth year in a form he can make last. About $1,500.
The gift
Three bottles of 1966 vintage Madeira, from different grape varieties where the market allows, each aged for decades in cask on the island before bottling. Madeira is heated and oxidized as it is made, so an opened bottle keeps for months. Each producer and vintage is described in writing, and the bottles travel in a fitted case, the card above them sealed in wax.
Why it's extraordinary
Of the wines made in his birth year, Madeira is the one built to stay open. A glass a night can stretch the year across a whole season.
The moment
One bottle is opened the night it arrives and lasts for months, a glass at a time.
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