| |
The
Museum of Madeira Wine is located in and forms part
of the buildings of the Madeira Wine Institute, or
Instituto do Vinho da Madeira - the
Official authority for quality control and trade relations
regarding Madeira wine.
The building belonged formerly to Henry Veitch,
the former English consul to Madeira during the first
half of the nineteenth century. The architecture of
the building with its prominent watch tower is enough
reason in itself to visit and enjoy the rather inconspicuous
Museum.
The
museum is a pedagogical approach to Madeira wine:
its history, method of production, cooperage,
export markets, instrumentation, and
nostalgia. The museum tries to focus on areas
that receive little or no attention when Madeira wine
is mentioned in visitor guides or books: the types
of wood used for barrels, the types and methods of
early wine presses, the casks, sheep or goatskins,
or bullock cart modes of transportation of times past,
and so on. A live cooperage is also a feature
at the museum. However, the making of the vats do
not undergo a strict schedule so it is not guaranteed
that a guest will encounter the cooper busy at his
task....
 The
museum provides a photo and documented retrospective
on the changes of technology in the industry, including
the first wooden instruments and holders, the
subsequent changes to metallic mechanisms and
holders, and then to the high tech and sophisticated
methods of production lines in today's Madeira
wine industry.
The
museum has staff to help and assist the visitor
in any way with questions and information needs. A
lot of free literature, pamphlets and magazines
are available free of charge to the public.
|
|
