What’s past is prologue.

—WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, The Tempest

Today relatively little Madeira is drunk in the U.S. Americans seem to want light, quick-drinking wines, and Madeira, which is heavy and must be sipped and savored at leisure, is like daytime baseball: a wonderful institution, made for the spirit of another age. Really fine Madeiras are today the Edsels of the wine world: a handful of fanatics hoard them and talk about them, but most people have never tasted one, let alone bought one.

—JOHN HAILMAN, Thomas Jefferson on Wine