Sercial
Botanical description of the Sercial grape variety, now rare in Madeira, which yields a very dry, excellent wine once aged beyond ten years.
Leaves medium-sized, downy on the lower surface, subglabrous or pubescent on the upper, with the 3 upper lobes clearly visible and the lower ones barely outlined; upper lobe almost always larger and more acute or acuminate than the lateral ones; teeth shallow, unequal; upper lateral sinuses and the petiolar sinus almost always open; bunches small or medium-sized, generally not exceeding 20 centimetres, dense, almost always winged; berries elliptical, 15–20 millimetres, greenish-yellow, slightly tart, fairly firm. The stock is vigorous; canes light greyish-brown, with short internodes. – This grape variety, which is now fairly rare in Madeira, is found at Fajã dos Padres, Ponta do Pargo and Estreito de Câmara de Lobos. When matured (before 10 years it is harsh and raw), its wine is very dry and of excellent quality. It is said that the Sercial (white grape variety) of Madeira is identical to the Esgana cão of Portugal.
In this article
Place
Places mentioned · 04
Abroad
- Estreito de Câmara de Lobos
Câmara de Lobos. Place where Sercial was still grown.
Estreito de Câmara de Lobos is a parish in the municipality of Câmara de Lobos, Madeira, created in the early sixteenth century around the chapel of Nossa Senhora da Graça. It was the main centre of rye-straw hat weaving and cheese-making, grows Sercial, Verdelho, Tinta and Bastardo, and became a julgado of the Funchal comarca in 1927.
- Fajã dos Padres
Ribeira Brava. One of the few places where Sercial was still grown.
Fajã dos Padres is a small coastal fajã beyond Cabo Girão in the parish of Campanário, one of the best-known fajãs of Madeira. It was a Jesuit estate famed for the island's best Malmsey and also for Sercial; its Jesuit chapel was destroyed by Algerian corsairs in 1626. The Elucidário gives the pirate raid as 1625 in one note and 1626 in another.
- Ponta do Pargo
Calheta. Place where Sercial was still grown.
Ponta do Pargo is a parish at Madeira's western extremity, transferred from Porto do Moniz to Calheta municipality in 1871, where a lighthouse long demanded was first lit in 1922. It is watered by the old Rabaçal levada, grows Sercial vines, gives its name to a white cattle sub-breed, and was the birthplace of Manuel da Costa Dias and João Pestana Júnior.
- Portugal
Its Esgana cão variety is said to be identical to Sercial.
Portugal, the mother country of Madeira. The Elucidário notes that artillery detachments were sent from the mainland to garrison Madeira before 1877, that Madeira was linked to Portugal by telegraph cable in 1874, and that woad and gifts of honey were formerly sent there from the island. Mainland oranges and olives are compared favourably with those of Madeira and Porto Santo.