Fortified wine

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Not to be confused with flavored fortified wine.
A glass of port, a fortified wine
A collection of vermouth and quinquina bottles, including Noilly Prat Extra Dry, Lillet Blanc, Dolin Rouge, and Martini & Rossi Rosso

Fortified wine is a

distilled spirit, usually brandy, has been added.[1] In the course of some centuries,[2] winemakers have developed many different styles of fortified wine, including port, sherry, madeira, Marsala, Commandaria wine, and the aromatised wine vermouth.[3]

Production

Sherry barrels aging

One reason for fortifying wine was to preserve it, since ethanol is also a natural antiseptic. Even though other preservation methods now exist, fortification continues to be used because the process can add distinct flavors to the finished product.[4][5]

Although grape brandy is most commonly added to produce fortified wines, the additional alcohol may also be

neutral spirit that has been made from grapes, grain, sugar beets or sugarcane. Regional appellation laws may dictate the types of spirit that are permitted for fortification. For example, in the U.S. only spirits made from the same fruit as the wine may be added.[6]

The source of the additional alcohol and the method of its distillation can affect the flavour of the fortified wine. If

continuous still, rather than a pot still.[3]

When added to wine before the

residual sugar behind. The result is a wine that is both sweeter and stronger, normally containing about 20% alcohol by volume
(ABV).

During the fermentation process, yeast cells in the must continue to convert sugar into alcohol until the must reaches an alcohol level of 16–18%. At this level, the alcohol becomes toxic to the yeast and stalls its metabolism. If fermentation is allowed to run to completion, the resulting wine is (in most cases) low in sugar and is considered a dry wine. Adding alcohol earlier in the fermentation process results in a sweeter wine. For drier fortified wine styles, such as sherry, the alcohol is added shortly before or after the end of the fermentation.

In the case of some fortified wine styles (such as late harvest and botrytized wines), a naturally high level of sugar inhibits the yeast, or the rising alcohol content due to the high sugar kills the yeast. This causes fermentation to stop before the wine can become dry.[3]

Varieties

Commandaria wine

Main article: Commandaria

Commandaria is made in Cyprus' unique AOC region north of Limassol from high-altitude vines of Mavro and Xynisteri, sun-dried and aged in oak barrels. Recent developments have produced different styles of Commandaria, some of which are not fortified.

Madeira wine

Main article: Madeira wine
Madeira wine

Madeira is a fortified wine made in the

sweet wines
more usually consumed with dessert. Madeira is deliberately heated and oxidised as part of its maturation process, resulting in distinctive flavours and an unusually long lifespan once a bottle is opened.

Marsala wine

Main article: Marsala wine

Marsala wine is a wine from

abv and aged at least four months; and the Superiore, which is at least 18%, and aged at least two years. The unfortified Marsala wine is aged in wooden casks for five years or more and reaches a strength of 18% by evaporation.[7]

Mistelle

Mistelle (

fermented grape juice (or apple juice to make pommeau).[10] The addition of alcohol stops the fermentation and, as a consequence Mistelle is sweeter than fully fermented grape juice in which the sugars turn to alcohol.[11]

Moscatel de Setúbal

Main article: Setúbal DOC

Moscatel de Setúbal is a Portuguese wine produced around the

aguardente. The style was believed to have been invented by José Maria da Fonseca
, the founder of the oldest table wine company in Portugal dating back to 1834.

Port wine

Main article: Port wine
A 10-year tawny port

Port wine (also known simply as port) is a fortified wine from the

sweet
red wine, but also comes in dry, semi-dry and white or rosé styles.

Sherry

Main article: Sherry
A degustation of sherries

Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the town of

Cádiz between Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa María.[13]

After

fermentation is complete, sherry is fortified with brandy. Because the fortification takes place after fermentation, most sherries are initially dry, with any sweetness being added later. In contrast, port wine
(for example) is fortified halfway through its fermentation, which stops the process so that not all of the sugar is turned into alcohol.

Sherry is produced in a variety of styles, ranging from dry, light versions such as finos to much darker and sometimes sweeter versions known as olorosos.[14] Cream sherry is always sweet.

Vermouth

Main article: Vermouth
Martini Bianco, an Italian vermouth

Vermouth is a fortified wine flavoured with aromatic herbs and spices ("aromatised" in the trade) using closely guarded recipes (trade secrets). Some of the herbs and spices used may include cardamom, cinnamon, marjoram, and chamomile.[15] Some vermouth is sweetened. Unsweetened or dry vermouth tends to be bitter. The person credited with the second vermouth recipe, Antonio Benedetto Carpano from Turin, Italy, chose to name his concoction "vermouth" in 1786 because he was inspired by a German wine flavoured with wormwood, an herb most famously used in distilling absinthe. Wine flavoured with wormwood goes back to ancient Rome. The modern German word Wermut (Wermuth in the spelling of Carpano's time) means both wormwood and vermouth. The herbs were originally used to mask raw flavours of cheaper wines,[16] imparting a slightly medicinal "tonic" flavor.

Vins doux naturels

"VDN" redirects here. For other uses, see VDN (disambiguation).
A Grenache-based VDN from Rasteau

Vins doux naturels (VDN) are lightly fortified wines typically made from white

Muscat grapes or red Grenache grapes in the south of France. The production of vins doux naturels was perfected by Arnaud de Villeneuve at the University of Montpellier in the 13th century and they are now quite common in the Languedoc-Roussillon
region of southern France.

As the name suggests,

grape spirit.[17] The Grenache vins doux naturels can be made in an oxidised or unoxidised style whereas the Muscat wines are protected from oxidation to retain their freshness.[18]

Vins de liqueur

Main article: Vin de liqueur

A vin de liqueur is a sweet fortified style of French wine that is fortified by adding brandy to unfermented grape must. The term vin de liqueur is also used by the European Union to refer to all fortified wines. Vins de liqueur take greater flavour from the added brandy but are also sweeter than vin doux.

Examples include

Macvin in Jura; there is also Pommeau
similarly made by blending apple juice and apple brandy.

Low-end fortified wines

Main article:
Flavored fortified wines

Inexpensive fortified wines, such as Thunderbird and Wild Irish Rose, became popular during the Great Depression for their relatively high alcohol content. The term wino was coined during this period to describe impoverished alcoholics of the time.[19]

These wines continue to be associated with the homeless, mainly because marketers have been aggressive in targeting low-income communities as ideal consumers of these beverages; organisations in cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland have urged makers of inexpensive fortified wine, including

Washington State Liquor Control Board to prohibit the sale of certain alcohol products in an impoverished "Alcohol Impact Area." Among the products sought to be banned were over two dozen beers, and six fortified wines: Cisco, Gino's Premium Blend, MD 20/20, Night Train, Thunderbird, and Wild Irish Rose.[21] The Liquor Control Board approved these restrictions on 30 August 2006.[22]

Gwaha-ju

Main article: Gwaha-ju

Gwaha-ju is a fortified rice wine made in Korea.[23][24] Although rice wine is not made from grapes, it has a similar alcohol content to grape wine, and the addition of the distilled spirit, soju, and other ingredients like ginseng, jujubes, ginger, etc., to the rice wine, bears similarity to the above-mentioned fortified wines.

Terminology

Fortified wines are often termed

vins de liqueur" is used by the French.[26]

Under

abv, with Total Alcoholic Strength of no less than 17.5%, and that meets many additional criteria. Exemptions are allowed for certain quality liqueur wines.[27]

See also
  • Wine and health

References

  1. ISBN 0-394-56262-3
    .
  2. ISBN 9780760758328
    . Retrieved 6 June 2020. Exactly when stronger wines or spirits began to be added to wine to preserve it is lost to history, but it worked — and fortified wine was born. History does record how the fortified wines Port and Madeira came to be.
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-19-860990-6
    .
  4. ^ "Types of Fortified Wines You Might Enjoy Before or After Dinner". The Spruce Eats. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  5. ^ Antonello, Biancalana. "DiWineTaste Report: Tasting Fortified Wines". DiWineTaste. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  6. ^ "26 U.S. Code §5382 b(2)". Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-1-84022-302-6
    . Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  8. ISBN 978-1-57806-841-8
    . Retrieved 4 April 2009. Marsala wine.
  9. OCLC 41660699
    .
  10. ^ "mistelle Definition in the Wine Dictionary at Epicurious.com". epicurious.com. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
  11. ^ Biancalana, Antonello. "Production of Fortified Wines". DiWineTaste. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
  12. ISBN 0-02-863601-5
    .
  13. ^ "Spanish law". Archived from the original on 10 September 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  14. ^ "Sherry types". SherryNotes. 23 July 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  15. ^ Clarke, Paul (15 August 2008). "The Truth About Vermouth: The secret ingredient in today's top cocktails remains misunderstood". The San Francisco Chronicle.
  16. ISBN 978-0-470-10752-2
    . Retrieved 5 April 2009.
  17. ISBN 978-0-8476-7534-0
    . Retrieved 5 April 2009.
  18. ^ "thewinedoctor.com". Archived from the original on 17 February 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  19. ISBN 1-4027-2585-X
    .
  20. ISBN 1-55862-336-1
    .
  21. ^ Castro, Hector (7 December 2005). "City could soon widen alcohol impact areas". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. [dead link]
  22. ^ "Public Safety - Alcohol Impact Areas". Beacon Alliance of Neighbors. City of Seattle. 1 January 2013. Archived from the original on 1 January 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  23. ^ Yu, Tae-jong. "Gwaha-ju". Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (in Korean). Academy of Korean Studies. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  24. ^ Park, Rock Darm (12 April 2012). "Gwaha-ju". Naver (in Korean). Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  25. ISBN 978-0-520-92087-3
    . Retrieved 5 April 2009.
  26. ISBN 978-1-904777-85-4
    . Retrieved 5 April 2009.
  27. ^ "Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2008; Annex IV, §3 (European Union document". p. 46.

External links

Look up fortified wine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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