| In
centuries past the maturing process of Madeira wine by heating
it, and later by “sauna-bathing” it (the estufa), helped realise
a valuable commodity. The trips back and forth over the equator did
not help to support the demand made for the famous wine. |
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| Prince
Henry the Navigator started it all, Madeira Wine, the Americas,
the discoveries of the sea route to India... |
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Pantaleão Fernandes
in 1794 knew of the ancient fumatories of the Romans and experimented
with the “cooking” process, using hot braziers in a closed
area. Eventually pipes were installed along the walls, and by the
use of wood fires, the heat could be transported to the wine.
Before the end of the eighteenth century, estufas became the best solution
to heating wine, as wine makers found that a month in the estufas was
equal to two years of ordinary maturing. They then called the wine
vinho “estufado” - heated wine, and the treatment developed
then is much the same as it is today.
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