The first records of distilled grains spirits appeared in Ireland and Scotland in the 1400’s. Over time, these spirits became known as whiskey, which is the anglicized version of the Gaelic word uisce beatha (Ish-ca Baa-ha) which means water of life. English colonization spread whiskey making it to both Canada and the United States and the types of whiskey they made evolved based on the grains that grew well in those climates and soils. Before the 1800’s, whiskey was largely stored in barrels simply for transportation. But, around the turn of the 19th century, people noticed that whiskey stored in barrels had a better flavor and aroma and so began purposefully aging whiskey before selling it. As distilling technology improved, it expanded the variety of whiskey styles that could be made to match the preferences of the drinking public.
Fortified wine can be made anywhere in the world but the EU has extended trade protection to certain historic styles like sherry, port, madeira and marsala. The US did not recognize port as a protected style until 2006, so there are a number of US made port-style wines that are still allowed to use the moniker on their labels.
While there are several ways to make sweet and or high abv wines, fortified wines achieve this effect by adding neutral grape spirit to wine either during or right after fermentation. In addition to increasing the strength of the wine through fortification, producers developed other strategies to extend the life of the wine through controlled oxidation during maturation and in the case of madeira, controlled exposure to heat to temper the wine.
A style of fortified wine made from grapes grown in the Douro valley or northern Portugal. Part way through the fermentation process, neutral grape spirit is added to the wine to halt the fermentation which leaves some residual sugar and increases the strength of the wine. The wine is then allowed to rest before being bottled. White port, ruby port, late bottled vintage port and vintage ports are stored in either non-porous containers (concrete or stainless steel) or very large wooden vats that prevent/slow down oxidation to preserve the fruitiness of the wine. And tawny ports are aged in oak casks between 3 and 50 years. During this maturation the wine mellows and oxidizes which causes the color of the wine to fade from dark purple to amber.
A style of fortified wine made in the Jerez (heh-REHTH) wine growing region of southern Spain. Sherry has three general categories: dry, sweetened, and naturally sweet, each with their own sub-styles. The sub-styles are largely defined by either oxidative or non-oxidative aging.Oxidized sherries such as oloroso or pedro ximenez darken in color and develop secondary flavors during the aging. In contrast, fino, and manzanilla are aged under a layer of yeast (called flor) which protects the wine from oxygen and allows the sherry to keep its bright pale color while intensifying the flavor of the wine.
A fortified wine made on the Portuguese island of Madeira off the east coast of Morocco. The island was settled around 1425 and quickly became an important port for ships traveling to and from the Americas. Wine growers added grape spirit to the wine in barrel to help preserve it on the long voyage across the Atlantic. During the trip the wine was exposed to high temperatures and constant movement which radically changed its flavor. Today Madeira producers mimic these voyage conditions by exposing the wine to heat and oxygen before being bottled. Like other wine regions, Madeira can be labeled by the primary grape (Sercial, Verdelho, Bual or Malmsey) if it contains at least 85% of a single variety. Madeira can also have certain label designations such as reserve or special reserve etc. depending on how long the wine was aged in barrel.
A sweetened fortified wine from the wine region surrounding Marsala, Sicily. Marsala was created in 1774, by John Woodhouse, an English merchant who settled in Sicily. Woodhouse believed the local wine once fortified could compete with sherry from Spain. Marsala starts with a base made from a blend of white wines or red wines from local grapes. The wine is then sweetened either with boiled grape must (juice before fermentation) or with a mistelle (blend of grape juice and grape spirit). If sweetened with grape must, the marsala is then fortified with the addition of grape spirit. Marsala wines can be categorized by their color (ambra, oro, rubino), their level of sweetness (secco, max 40g/l residual sugar; semisecco, 41-100g/l; dolce, over 100g/l), or how long it was aged in barrel (fine, 1 year; superiore, 2 years; superiore riserva, 4 years; vergine, 5 years; or vergine stravecchio, 10+ years). Fine marsala is often used for cooking, the dry and semi-dry versions are often served as an aperitif, and the sweet version as a dessert wine.