Historic wine in madeira wine business – the first Tinta Negra to be bottled with the name of the grape on the label. Ricardo explains that he was ‘a little bit stressed when this law came out. [See Mad about madeira for background on this change in the law.] I wanted to be the first (producer to varietally label) but I didn’t know what the others were doing. More importantly, I had to have a good wine to bottle rather than just being the first. As it turned out the first, second, third and fourth Tinta Negras were bottled by me!’ 80% of Tinta Negra was made by Ricardo and the other 20% was made by Mr Francisco from Ribeiro (very high in acid and rather robust — RS 200 g/l). Ribeiro had wines from the 1950s in cask (and some bottled!) as well as some from the 1990s. Sr Francisco was a great winemaker but his descendants were not interested. Two years ago some 600-litre casks contained only 60 litres of molasses. Ribeiro’s Tinta Negra has a modern label with two gentlemen wearing sunglasses which was contentious. Ricardo only has three bottles of this left. Pale reddish tawny. Lots of freshness on the nose – even greenness. Great balance! A slightly dry, green veginess note on the end. Massive tanginess and citrus peel. Medium-sweet. ‘This is Tinta Negra!’ Ricardo says. Very different from all the others. Dry finish. 17.5 points