J.P. Morgan’s Favored Madeira Wines Make Comeback: Elin McCoy

John Pierpont Morgan liked to sip old vintages of Madeira with his fellow industrialists while cruising New York harbor on his steam yacht Corsair.

I’m savoring them in the Manhattan mansion where his son lived, now part of the Morgan Library and Museum complex. The cedary, layered 1780 Borges Bual Madeira ($2,450) on my tongue could have been drunk by Thomas Jefferson. The wine is surprisingly delicious, its caramel and candied fruit flavors and lively acidity intact after more than two centuries.