VOYAGE OF MADEIRA

Have you ever noticed how people go on "sea voyages" and "road trips?"
Why don't people people go on "sea trips" and "road voyages?"

This post is written in a coffee shop on the edge of campus where I've been taking copious notes on wine production/history over the past three hours. The above thought came to me as I was writing notes on Madeira, an island west of Portugal and Morocco. It was once famous for its sugar cane but then Brazil's sugar was cheaper so they switched over to wine production.
Thanks to the way the winds blow, most of its market was in the West Indies and the recently colonized North America. The sea trips actually seemed to benefit the creation of the wine - the constant movement plus the super hot temperatures somehow added flavors and "softness" to the wine. In fact some extremely snobby costumers would pay to have it shipped west across the Atlantic then back east and finally back west again just to have extra time at sea.
Eventually people realized how ridiculous this was and developed a system on Madeira that would circulate hot water around barrels to get the same effect.

What's sad about all this is that Madeira wines are now mostly thought to be cooking wines. Thanks to this lovely fungi called Phylloxera which when first introduced from North America to Europe in the 1800s totally devastated vineyards by attacking the roots of vines. Grafting and other methods were used to fix this, but Madeira had to replant all their vineyards with different grape varieties which completely bash their wine.
Their best customers ended up being the cause of their downfall. Sad.

Anyways, by writing the above I will not write it in my notebook because I don't think I will forget it now. Hmmm...maybe I'll write all of what I'm studying here. Haha. Don't worry I'll spare you guys.



Side note: Awesome musician a facebook ad got me onto. A modern version of Carole King.