what's in the glass
Madeira wine and poncha: what you'll be poured
The fortified wine that opens the meal, the island spirit that isn't part of this ticket, and what actually is.
Check availability ↗What's poured, and where it comes from
| Drink | Included on this ticket? |
|---|---|
| Madeira wine (welcome glass) | Poured as you arrive |
| Red wine, white wine, beer, soft drinks | Poured through the meal |
Madeira wine, and why it keeps
The glass that opens the meal is Madeira wine, the island's fortified, deliberately oxidised wine, aged either by gentle artificial heat over a few months or, for the finest bottles, by decades in a warm loft with no heating at all beyond the island's own climate. That ageing process is what lets an opened bottle of Madeira last for weeks rather than days — a wine built, historically, to survive long sea voyages rather than a quick trip to the cellar.
Four styles, one welcome pour
Madeira wine ranges from the sweet Malvasia through Bual and Verdelho to the dry Sercial — we don't know which style is poured as the welcome glass on this particular evening, so we're naming the range rather than promising one specific style.
What else is poured through dinner
Beyond the welcome glass, the ticket includes red wine, white wine, beer and soft drinks, kept topped up through the meal as often as you'd like.
Poncha, an island classic
Poncha is Madeira's own cocktail: aguardente de cana (sugarcane spirit), honey and orange or lemon juice, muddled together with a wooden mexelote and served without ice. It's worth seeking out somewhere in Funchal during your stay, alongside whatever's poured at this dinner.
The digestivo at the end
The meal closes with coffee and a digestive Madeiran liqueur, a fitting bookend to the glass of Madeira wine that opened the evening.