Sercial

Fortified wine from the island of Madeira, aged with heat and air until it becomes almost indestructible. Cheaper wines are warmed in tanks (estufagem); the best age slowly in casks in warm lofts (canteiro). An opened bottle keeps for months, and century-old vintages are still lively.

Crisp, lemony, long-lived whites from Arinto grown just north of Lisbon. Popular in Victorian England, where it was sold as a Portuguese answer to German hock.