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Fortified wine
14 of 16 steps verified
Port, Sherry, Madeira, Marsala, Vin Doux Naturel and Rutherglen, and how spirit, flor and solera shape them.
All levels 127 min 16 steps About Fortified Wines
Part of Winemaking
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Start with the category: wine with extra alcohol added, sweeter when the spirit goes in before fermentation is complete.
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Fortification: Grape Spirit (Aguardente) Added Mid-Fermentation
How it works for Port: grape spirit at 77% ABV added when roughly half the sugar has fermented.
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Vin Doux Naturel (VDN): Muscat, Banyuls, Maury, Rivesaltes
France's version, Vin Doux Naturel, stops fermentation with neutral grape spirit, with Roussillon leading production.
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The Douro Valley, demarcated in 1756, carries both the Port and Douro designations of origin.
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Touriga Nacional, the backbone of great Port blends.
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Tawny Port (Basic; Blended; Amber Color from Wood Aging)
Tawny Port, a blended, wood-aged style of Port: a blend of wines from several years matured in wood as oxidation moves the color from ruby toward amber.
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Sherry country, around Jerez de la Frontera, where Palomino is the main base of almost all protected wines.
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Palomino Fino, naturally low in acidity and sugar and suited to Sherry.
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Biological Aging Under Flor Yeast (Sherry Fino & Manzanilla)
Flor: a living veil of yeast that grows on wine in part-filled oak butts, protecting fino and manzanilla from oxygen.
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Solera System: Fractional Blending (Sherry, Madeira, Some Ports)
The solera: each saca is replaced from the primera criadera, creating a cascade upward through every tier.
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Oxidative Aging Without Flor (Oloroso, Madeira Canteiro Method)
Without flor: Oloroso sherry is fortified to at least 17% by volume so that flor cannot survive, and Madeira ages oxidatively in cask by the canteiro method.
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Madeira, in the Atlantic, with four white grapes from dry to sweet: Sercial, Verdelho, Bual and Malvasia.
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Madeira Estufagem vs. Canteiro: Two Maturation Methods Explained
Madeira's two maturation methods: estufagem, heating the wine in stainless steel estufas, against canteiro, aging in casks on the upper floors of the lodge under the island's natural warmth.
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Sicily's Marsala, fortified wine from Grillo, Catarratto, Inzolia and Damaschino, in five aging categories.
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Marsala Fortification Tradition
Marsala's in perpetuum system: barrels drawn are replenished with the next oldest wine, cascading down to the barrel holding the youngest blend.
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Close in northeastern Victoria with Rutherglen Muscat and Topaque, organised under a four-tier system.
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