Alcohol

The alcohol used since early times in treating the traditional wines of Madeira, and which gives them the special flavour and ‘bouquet’ that have characterised them, came mainly from the direct distillation of sugar cane or of the molasses left over from sugar-making. Every 34 kilograms of Bourbon cane yielded one galão (Portuguese gallon, about 3.16 litres) of cane spirit (aguardente, distilled from sugar cane or wine) at 30 degrees Cartier (an old hydrometer scale of alcoholic strength). This spirit sold at 1,000 réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis) the galão for use in the wines, many of which were exported abroad. Some alcohol was also extracted from imported molasses, which was subject to a duty of 23 réis per kilogram.

When sugar cane disappeared from Madeira, the island began to import alcohol from the Azores, although it continued to bring in a great deal of molasses from abroad for the purpose described. In 1900 Madeira was still importing some 2,000 ponches (puncheon, cask of 100–120 gallons, c. 450–550 l) of molasses (the ponche holds 100 to 120 galões), each of which produced 40 to 50 galões of alcohol at 40 degrees (restilo). The decree of 24 September 1903 reduced to 6 réis the duty of 30 réis that the decree of 30 September 1895 had levied on each kilogram of foreign molasses imported for alcohol. The decree of 11 March 1911 maintained this reduction whenever cane alcohol was lacking, or whenever the residues of sugar-making were insufficient to extract the alcohol needed for seasoning the wines. This last decree further laid down that the price of alcohol intended for treating wines could not exceed 2,60 réis per centesimal degree and per litre at a temperature of 15 degrees.

Under the regime now in force, only the companies engaged in the sugar and alcohol industry in Madeira are permitted to produce alcohol for winemaking and for pharmaceutical use. The product is distinguished by its exceptional purity.

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Decree no. 23,847 of 14 May 1934 permits alcohol to be distilled directly from cane juice only when there are no residues from sugar manufacture, or none are expected, to supply the alcohol required. Decree no. 27,912 of 31 July 1937, seeking to strike a fair balance between the prices of sugar cane and those of alcohol and spirit (aguardente, distilled from sugar cane or wine), fixed a price of 7.50 escudos for each litre of alcohol sold by the factory to the central warehouse of the customs house (Alfândega), which in turn will supply it to wine growers, wine exporters and pharmacies at an increase of 50 centavos per litre.

The quantities of alcohol produced by the registered factories in the years 1912 to 1917 are shown in the following table:

Year	Quantity (litres)
1912	729,543
1913	769,064
1914	737,725
1915	552,901
1916	813,235
1917	497,505

The decree of 11 March 1911 and the Regulations on the Production and Trade of Madeira Wines (Regulamento de Produção e do Comercio de Vinhos da Madeira), approved by decree of 8 November 1913, fixed at 55 litres the quantity of alcohol to be used for every 500 litres of wine. It should be noted, however, that wine not intended for export is often only partially fortified, and in some cases no alcohol at all is added to it. The regulations of 11 March 1909 had limited the sale of any alcohol for winemaking to 50 litres for every 500 of wine.