Located in the building of the converted 19th-century convent of St. Francis, Blandy’s is one of the oldest companies producing Madeira wine.
Founded in 1811 by an Englishman, John Blandy, the winery has been a family business for seven generations. Even though Blandys built a brand new winery that uses modern machinery in the parish of Caniçal, the majority of their old wines continue to be stored and often aged at the Blandy’s Wine Lodge in Funchal.
Blandys have their own vineyards both on the island of Madeira and the neighboring island of Porto Santo. They also regularly purchase sizable quantities of grapes from various winegrowers on the island. Of all the wineries that we visited on the island of Madeira, Blandy’s impressed us as the most commercialized and the most business-minded one too. Don’t get me wrong, there are several surviving and thriving fortified wine producers on the island. Some have survived since the 19th century. Blandy’s, however, seems to have an opportunistic attitude when it comes to capitalizing on all possible aspects of their winery business.
Their wine tasting room is the largest of all the wineries we visited. It is the only one where staff tried to upsell us when we were purchasing our wine tasting round. Normally we don’t appreciate an upsell. In this case, offering chocolates and cheeses to go with our selection of Madeira wine made sense and was appreciated.
No other winery that we visited had its own separate gift shop. Blandy’s got it!
Want to go on a tour? Make your pick!
Want to get educated on how to properly taste and appreciate Madeira wine instead of a tour? They can do that too.
Don’t speak English or Portuguese? Not a problem! Blandy’s is the only winery on the island that has tours in five languages: English, German, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
Can’t afford to spend much? Money is not a problem? Want a tour guide all to yourself? Blandy’s has an answer to all of these needs. Starting at 11 € on the low end of the spectrum to the inexplicably unrounded 28.80 € on the high end, their tours are designed to fit any budget. While we do not know the price tag that comes with their exclusive private tours, we expect it to be significantly higher than their run-of-the-mill ones.
Hungry? Blandy’s got a restaurant named “1811 Bistro Wine Bar” right at its wine lodge. If the elegance of their interior matches the quality of their food, you are in for a treat. No other winery on the island that we know of has an eatery attached to the winery.
Don’t have a place to sleep? Blandy’s is the only winery that offers self-catering apartments. We checked the price for their cheapest one, and it came higher than other similar holiday rentals in the city. Be prepared to drop, at a minimum, 90€ to a high 250€ a night, cleaning included. To put this in perspective, a comparable apartment in the same area, if rented on a monthly basis, will cost you between 900€ to 1300€ a month.
Still can’t get enough of Blandy’s? You can sign up for their wine club. Be prepared to shell out anywhere from 600€ to 960€ a year, depending on the type of club membership you will choose.
You must be getting a clear picture and understanding of why we referred to Blandy’s as opportunistic.
The Wine Tour
There’s something very appealing about Blandy’s wine lodge. So much so that we could not have said “No” to a wine tour. We went back and forth between choosing their basic and mid-range tour options. We finally settled on their 11€ per person group tour, called the “Premium tour”. What sealed the deal for us was not a tour price. It was the fact that their mid-range tours are available only once a day, and only in the late afternoon.
So, what do you get out of a basic tour, and is it worth it?
Our tour included a visit to a limited number of the lodge rooms, including the aging room, Blandy’s museum visit, and a tasting of their two wines: a blended wine and a Colheita. Oh, and we also got a pretty little booklet detailing the history of seven generations of Blandy’s family.
We constantly had another tour group, that started a few minutes later, breathing at our necks. The museum visit was more of a dash in and out. We were told that we always can come back and visit the museum later. The wine tasting part of the tour was “cozy” and not in a good way. Because a large swath of the tasting room was set up for the cruise ship visitors, our entire tour group was made to sit at a single table. We had to take great care not to elbow fellow tour-goers sitting next to us at the table. The entire tour, including the wine tasting, was reminiscent of a fast-moving conveyor belt. It was easy to imagine us playing the role of widgets that had to be finished and removed from the conveyor fast to vacate the place for new items.
So, what did we learn on the tour that we couldn’t have learned on the internet? As a matter of fact, a couple of things.
Turns out that when it is time to harvest grapes, the entire company joins forces. It was interesting to hear our tour guide sharing her experience of getting all drenched in grape juices during harvest days. It was also interesting to learn that the most coveted and immediately sold Madeira fortified wines are made of the grape variety called Listrão, a hard-to-get-your-hands-on, traditional variety found only on the Island of Porto Santo. Lastly, we learned that a 20-year-old blended wine does not necessarily mean that all the wine in that bottle has been aged for 20 years. The last one was an eye-opener and made us feel a bit cheated by the Madeira wine making industry.
We do not know if you will get a better experience with more expensive tours. Maybe. Maybe not. What we can say with fair certainty: if you can avoid going on a tour when there’s a cruise ship in town, you probably will get a better chance of a more satisfying visit.
Blandy’s Wines
Over the years, Blandys bought out several other fortified wine producers on the island of Madeira. Additionally, they ventured into the production of table wines through their Madeira Wine Company. Blandy’s now includes such fortified wine brands as Cossart Gordon & Co., Miles Madeira, and the table wine brand Atlantis.
The flagship Blandy’s Madeira brand offers 3 to 50 years old blends, and single harvest Colheitas and Fresqueiras. Their Colheitas and Fresqueiras, as well as blended wines, with an exception of the 3 years old blends, are made using the traditional canteiro process. This method requires American oak cask aging for many years in the lodge’s attics.
Cossart Gordon & Co brand offers 3 to 15 years old blended wines and a large selection of both Colheitas and Fresqueiras. Similarly to Blandy’s, they use the canteiro method for all their wines with an exception of the 3 years old blends.
Lastly, the Miles Madeira brand offers 3 to 10 years old blended wines and a limited selection of Colheitas and Fresqueiras. Only their Fresqueiras and 2012 Colheita are made using the canteiro process. What surprised us is that all of their wines are made exclusively of Tinta Negra.
Compared to Blandy’s brand, Miles Madeira strikes us as a lesser-quality brand. Despite that, Blandy’s wine lodge has one of its wine tasting options specifically to compare Miles wines to Blandy’s. An unfair competition? Perhaps. You be the judge.
To make sense of the three brands’ blended wines, we put together a comparative table showing age, sweetness level as well as grape varietals used.
If you are not into fortified wines, Blandy’s Wine Lodge offers its guests an opportunity to taste a result of Blandy’s foray into the table wines world. It is sold under the brand name “Atlantis” It is available as white wine, made from Verdelho, and red and rose wine, both made from Tinta Negra.
Bottom Line
Not our favorite winery on the island, we, never the less, would recommend a visit to Blandy’s.
If you haven’t been on a tour of Madeira’s fortified vine producer yet, perhaps consider what is supposed to be a more intimate wine tour at HM Borges instead. We hear tours at Barbeito are also good.
If you, like us, succumb to the temptation of this gorgeous place that is Blandy’s lodge, be prepared to come to Blandy’s twice. Their tours tend to sell out before the day of the actual tour.
If you end up going twice, don’t let your visit go to waste. Go to a wine tasting room. Pick your own wines and do your own tasting. Despite all the commercialization, they make good wines at Blandy’s that should be experienced and appreciated.