Styles of madeira

The quality of even the most basic madeira improved greatly in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Inexpensive wines which used to smell cooked and taste coarse and stewed are now much fresher and cleaner, even if they are not as fine and incisive as cask-aged examples. Finer wines are distinguished by their high-toned rancio aromas and searing acidity. Madeira varies in colour from pale gold to orange-amber to deep mahogany brown with a yellow-green tinge appearing on the rim of well-aged examples.