🏷️ Canteiro

Canteiro is a method of slow ageing for Madeira. Barrels stand in the attics and upper floors of wine lodges on Madeira and are warmed by natural heat: in summer by the sun, in winter the warmth is held by the roof. The word "canteiro" means "support", the name for the wooden beams on which the barrels lie.

Ageing is long: usually at least two or three years, and the best wines rest for decades. The wine oxidises and concentrates slowly, and some of the water evaporates. The result is Madeira with deep flavour, high acidity and notes of dried fruit and nuts. The barrels are not filled to the top, and the wine changes gradually.

Canteiro is contrasted with estufagem, in which wine is heated for several months in large tanks with hot water. That is faster and cheaper, so simple Madeiras are made this way. Canteiro costs more and is seen as the more valued method. It belongs to the classes of Madeira and Portuguese wine. Old bottles of such Madeira can keep for decades.

Canteiro is what the oldest labels depend on. Colheita Madeira must spend at least five years in cask, and Frasqueira at least twenty, which is why such bottles are the expensive end of the island's wine. The opposite route is estufagem, where wine sits in large tanks inside heated rooms at 45 to 50 °C for a minimum of three months. Canteiro stays the natural method: no boilers, only the warmth of the sun on the roof above the casks.