🍷 Bual
A medium-sweet Madeira made from the Bual grape.
Bual is a medium-sweet Madeira. The name is used for this style of wine from the Portuguese island of Madeira, and for the grape it is made from. It has roughly 78 to 96 grams of sugar per litre, so the taste is clearly sweet, but not as thick as the sweetest wines.
Madeira is made in an unusual way. The wine is fortified with wine spirit, then heated and aged for a long time, sometimes for years. This makes it very stable. An opened bottle can keep for much longer than ordinary wine. Bual is amber or brown in colour, with notes of dried fruit, nuts and caramel.
Other Madeira styles stand next to it in sweetness. Verdelho is medium-dry, and Malmsey is the sweetest. Bual sits between them. It is a strong drink from Portugal, so it is sipped in small amounts, usually after a meal or with dessert. As with any alcohol, it should be drunk in moderation.
Links
- Part of
- 🍷 Madeira
- Where it is made
- 🗺️ Portuguese wine
- Similar and different
- 🍷 Verdelho Madeira, 🍷 Malmsey
Frequently asked questions
What is Bual Madeira?
A medium-sweet Madeira from the Portuguese island of Madeira, with notes of dried fruit and nuts.
How much sugar does Bual have?
Roughly 78 to 96 grams per litre.
How is Bual different from Verdelho and Malmsey?
Verdelho is medium-dry, Malmsey is the sweetest, and Bual is in the middle.
Similar
🍷 Sercial · 🍷 Terrantez · 🍷 Rainwater Madeira · 🍷 Frasqueira Madeira · 🍷 Verdelho Madeira · 🍷 Malmsey
⚠️ Wine contains alcohol: adults only, drink in moderation. Wine usually contains sulphites; egg white or milk proteins are sometimes used for fining — important for allergies and for vegans.