The year 1906 produced a small crop in Madeira. However a few Malmseys were very good to great.There actually are several types of Malvazia(or Malvasia or Malmsey). The various types usually are pressed together. Michael Broadbent tasted Leacock's 1906 Malvazia Vintage Madeira in 1980 and rated it 5 star out of 5 star.
I bought 3 bottles of this wine at auction many years ago, and this is the first I have opened. The bottle had a good fill and the cork was sound, although it required considerable care to remove. The color is amber with hints of old gold, and there is faint green around the rim. The wine is quite bright with sediment sticking to the bottle. The intensity of both smell and taste is beyond anything I have experienced in a wine before in a good way. I have smelled a badly oxidized wine that was more intense in a stinky way, but I did not taste it since it smelled so foul. The bouquet brings to mind rich toast, dark dry mixed fruits that might include dates, raisins, black plums etc. Also there is something much like caramel. This follows through in the taste. When you first sip the wine, there is a great rush of fruit and sweetness. Then very intense acidity kicks in which balances the great richness of the wine. Then the acid slowly fades away, and one is left with an extremely long aftertaste. The wine makes me salivate, which likely is a good thing when you are drinking it with something very rich and a bit on the dry side. You need not fret about what kind of glass to use with this wine. The intensity of both bouquet and taste is so extreme that it likely would not lose much if you served it in a saucer!
I just received a giant chest of Nurnberger Lebkuchen. There are 10 kinds of Lebkuchen. Many contain dry fruit. Some have white or chocolate icing and some also have nuts. These are all a very old type of German gingerbread made for the Holidays for many centuries. The ginger is fairly mild, and the mentioned Madeira is a very good match for most of the Liebkuchen. The chest also contained 3 other types of cookies and a Christ-Stollen. I have the Madeira in my wine machine under pre-purified nitrogen, and it should keep well for many weeks if I do not drink it all before then. Most of the Liebkuchen keep fairly long, but I decided to start eating them at once, since there are nearly 8 pounds. Fortunately many freeze quite well if you seal them in the proper wrap. I also will be tasting the wine with Demel's Sacher torte and the Demel torte. These also freeze well if properly sealed, and I have a few slices of each left in the freezer.