Top 10 Madeira (Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides)

Madeira’s Top 10
12
Adegas de São Francisco, Funchal
Plenty of places on Madeira offer wine tastings, but none will give you such a
solid introduction to the history of its unique wine. With its heavy ancient
beams and its cobblestone courtyards, the Adegas de São Francisco feels as
old as time. It is set in the surviving parts of a 16th-century Franciscan friary,
most of which was demolished when Portugal passed its laws banning religious
orders in 1834. The premises were acquired by the Blandy family (see
p25) in 1840 and have been used ever since for making Madeira wine.
Sampling Madeira wine at
the Max Romer Tasting Bar
To the west of the
wine lodge, there is
an outdoor café in
the cloister of the
São Francisco friary,
now a delightful
public garden.
You can wander in
and out of the wine
lodge whenever it is
open. Wines may be
sampled for free in
the Max Romer
Tasting Bar without
booking a tour.
• Avenida Arriaga 28
• Map P3
• 291 740 110
• Open 9:30am–1pm,
2:30–6:30pm Mon–Fri,
10am–1pm Sat (Max
Romer Tasting Bar also
open for lunch)
• Admission free
• Tours: 10:30am,
2:30pm, 3:30pm,
4:30pm Mon–Fri,
11am Sat. €4
• In-depth vintage tours:
4:30pm Wed, Fri. €6
Top 10 Features
1 Courtyard
2 17th-century Wine Press
3 Goatskins
4 Attics
5 Wine Shop
6 Wine Museum
7 Max Romer Tasting Bar
8 Vintage Room
9 Shopping Arcade
0 The “Oldest Street”
! Courtyard
The romantic inner
courtyard of the wine lodge
is shaded by some of the
island’s tallest banana
trees (above). It is ringed
by three storeys of attics
with wisteria-draped external
balconies supported on
massive timber brackets.
@ 17th-century
Wine Press
On the guided tour you
will be shown a traditional
wine press carved
with the Jesuit
symbol of a cross
within a triangle.
The Jesuits ran the
island’s wine trade
until the late 18th
century. English and
Scottish merchants
then took it over.
For more on Madeira wines See pp58–9
£ Goatskins
Wine made all over the
island was brought for sale
to Funchal. Porters called
borracheiros sipped from the
40-litre loads of wine that
they carried in goatskins.
$ Attics
Massive timbers support
three storeys of ventilated
attics (below). Wines here
are aged in casks warmed
only by the sun, a method
known as “Canteiro” that
produces quality wines.