Fortified wines - Port, Madeira & Marsala
L to R: Marsala, Port, Madeira My last blog was about sherry, perhaps the most obvious drink (for the English, at least) to fall into the category of “fortified wines.” It’s a term that conjures up memories of the old duty-free allowances and even older relatives. However, just as sherry is enjoying its own little renaissance, I thought we might have a look at the other versatile wines that are its cousins. The popularity of these drinks in the UK owes much to their keeping qualities. They were originally fortified with brandy as a way of preserving them for the long sea journey to foreign markets. It helps retain a certain freshness and grapey flavour without the need for transporting in heavy, glass bottles. Delicate table wines were harder to transport, so our islands off the north-west of Europe came to love the stronger, often sweeter wines of Porto, Jerez, Sicily and Madeira. Port I think I mentioned port in my post about France. Whereas English-speaking cou...