Marsala is a fortified wine, dry or sweet, produced in the region surrounding the Italian city of Marsala in Sicily. Marsala first received Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) status in 1969. [1] The European Union grants Protected designation of origin (PDO) status to Marsala and most other countries limit the use of the term Marsala to products from the Marsala area. [2]
While unfortified wine is also produced in the Marsala region, it does not qualify for the Marsala DOC. [3]
Marsala fortified wine was probably first popularized outside Sicily by the Liverpool merchant John Woodhouse In 1773, he landed at the port of Marsala and discovered the local wine produced in the region, which was aged in wooden casks and tasted similar to Spanish and Portuguese fortified wines then popular in England. [4] Fortified Marsala was, and is, made using a process called in perpetuum, which is similar to the solera system used to produce Sherry in Jerez, Spain. [5]
Woodhouse recognized that the in perpetuum process raised the alcohol level and alcoholic taste of this wine while also preserving these characteristics during long-distance sea travel. Woodhouse further believed that fortified Marsala would be popular in England. Marsala indeed proved so successful that Woodhouse returned to Sicily and, in 1796, began its mass production and commercialization. [6] In 1806, it was Benjamin Ingham (1784–1861), arriving in Sicily from Leeds, who opened new markets for Marsala in Europe and the Americas. [7] Founded by Benjamin Ingham and later run by Joseph Whitaker and William Ingham Whitaker. [8] [9] Joseph and his brother William Ingham Whitaker inherited vast vineyards and his great grandfather Ingham's banking empire. [10]
In 1833, the entrepreneur Vincenzo Florio, a Calabrese by birth and Palermitano by adoption, bought up great swathes of land between the two largest established Marsala producers and set to making his own vintage with even more exclusive range of grape. [11]
Florio purchased Woodhouse's firm, among others, in the late nineteenth century and consolidated the Marsala wine industry. Florio and Pellegrino remain the leading producers of Marsala today. [12]
Marsala is produced using the Grillo, Inzolia, Catarratto and Damaschino [13] white grape varietals, among others. [14]
Marsala contains about 15–20% alcohol by volume. Different Marsala wines are classified according to their color, sweetness, and duration of their ageing. The three levels of sweetness are secco (with a maximum of 40 grams of residual sugar per liter), semisecco (41–100 g/L), and sweet (over 100 g/L). The color and ageing classifications are as follows: [15]
Marsala wine was traditionally served as an aperitif between the first and second courses of a meal. Contemporary diners will serve its drier versions chilled with Parmesan (stravecchio), Gorgonzola, Roquefort, and other spicy cheeses, with fruits or pastries, and the sweeter at room temperature as a dessert wine. [1] Marsala is sometimes discussed with another Sicilian wine, Passito di Pantelleria (Pantelleria Island's raisin wine). [18]
Marsala wine is frequently used in cooking, and is especially prevalent in dishes served in Italian restaurants in the United States.[ citation needed ]
Dry Marsala wine is used in savory cooking. A typical savory Marsala sauce, for example, involves reducing the wine almost to a syrup with onions or shallots, then adding mushrooms and herbs. One of the most popular Marsala recipes is chicken marsala, in which flour-coated pounded chicken breast halves are braised in a mixture of Marsala, butter, olive oil, mushrooms, and spices. [19] Marsala is also used in some risotto recipes.
Sweet Marsala wine is used to produce rich Italian desserts such as zabaione and shortcake. [20]
Fortified wine is a wine to which a distilled spirit, usually brandy, has been added. In the course of some centuries, winemakers have developed many different styles of fortified wine, including port, sherry, madeira, Marsala, Commandaria wine, and the aromatised wine vermouth.
Marsala is an Italian town located in the Province of Trapani in the westernmost part of Sicily. Marsala is the most populated town in its province and the fifth in Sicily.
Madeira is a fortified wine made on the Portuguese Madeira Islands, off the coast of Africa. Madeira is produced in a variety of styles ranging from dry wines which can be consumed on their own, as an apéritif, to sweet wines usually consumed with dessert. Cheaper cooking versions are often flavoured with salt and pepper for use in cooking, but these are not fit for consumption as a beverage.
Dessert wines, sometimes called pudding wines in the United Kingdom, are sweet wines typically served with dessert.
Solera is a process for aging liquids such as wine, beer, vinegar, and brandy, by fractional blending in such a way that the finished product is a mixture of ages, with the average age gradually increasing as the process continues over many years. The purpose of this labor-intensive process is the maintenance of a reliable style and quality of the beverage over time. Solera means "on the ground" in Spanish, and it refers to the lower level of the set of barrels or other containers used in the process; the liquid is traditionally transferred from barrel to barrel, top to bottom, the oldest mixtures being in the barrel right "on the ground". The containers in today's process are not necessarily stacked physically in this way but merely carefully labeled. Products which are often solera aged include Sherry, Madeira, Lillet, Port wine, Marsala, Mavrodafni, Muscat, and Muscadelle wines; Balsamic, Commandaria, some Vins doux naturels, and Sherry vinegars; Brandy de Jerez; beer; rums; and whiskies. Since the origin of this process is the Iberian peninsula, most of the traditional terminology is in Spanish and Portuguese.
Balsamic vinegar is a dark, concentrated, intensely flavoured vinegar originating in Modena, Italy, made wholly or partially from grape must: freshly crushed grape juice with all the skins, seeds and stems.
Trapani is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily, southern Italy. Following the suppression of the Sicilian provinces, it was replaced in 2015 by the Free municipal consortium of Trapani. Its capital is the city of Trapani. It has an area of 2,469.62 square kilometres (953.53 sq mi) and a total population of 433,826 (2017). There are 25 comunes in the province.
Italian wine is produced in every region of Italy. Italy is the world's largest producer of wine, with an area of 702,000 hectares under vineyard cultivation, and contributing a 2013–2017 annual average of 48.3 million hl of wine. In 2018 Italy accounted for 19 per cent of global production, ahead of France and Spain. Italian wine is both exported around the world and popular domestically among Italians, who consume an average of 42 litres per capita, ranking fifth in world wine consumption.
The Florio family is a prominent entrepreneurial Italian family who started many lucrative activities in Sicily involving the export of Sicilian products in the nineteenth century, in some ways redeeming Sicily from feudal immobility. The family extended its interests to shipping, shipbuilding, fisheries, mining, metallurgy and ceramics.
Joseph Isaac Spadafora Whitaker was a Sicilian-English ornithologist, archaeologist and sportsman. He was a member of the Whitaker family. He is mainly known for his work on the birds of Tunisia, and for being involved in the foundation of the Sicilian football club US Città di Palermo. He was married to the author and hostess Tina Scalia Whitaker.
Vin Santo is a style of Italian dessert wine. Traditional in Tuscany, these wines are often made from white grape varieties such as Trebbiano and Malvasia, though Sangiovese may be used to produce a rosé style known as "Occhio di Pernice" or eye of the partridge. The wines may also be described as straw wines since they are often produced by drying the freshly harvested grapes on straw mats in a warm and well ventilated area of the house. Though technically a dessert wine, a Vin Santo can vary in sweetness levels from bone dry to extremely sweet. While the style is believed to have originated in Tuscany, examples of Vin Santo can be found throughout Italy and it is an authorised style of wine for several Denominazione di origine controllata (DOCs) and Indicazione geografica tipica (IGTs).
Balestrate is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Palermo in the Italian region Sicily, located about 25 kilometres (16 mi) southwest of Palermo. As of 31 July 2015, it had a population of 6,505 and an area of 3.9 square kilometres (1.5 sq mi).
Straw wine, or raisin wine, is a wine made from grapes that have been dried off the vine to concentrate their juice. Under the classic method, after a careful hand harvest, selected bunches of ripe grapes will be laid out on mats in full sun.. This drying will probably be done on well exposed terraces somewhere near the wine press and the drying process will take around a week or longer. Small scale productions were laid out on flat roofs; however, if this still happens, it is extremely rare nowadays.
Montilla-Moriles is a Spanish Denominación de Origen Protegida (DOP) for wines located in the southern part of the province of Córdoba. It is bounded by the river Genil to the east, by the river Guadajoz to the west, by the river Guadalquivir to the north, and by the Subbetic Range of mountains to the south.
Vernaccia di Oristano is a white Italian wine grape variety grown on the island of Sardinia which makes a wide range of wine styles for the Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) of Vernaccia di Oristano based in the province of Oristano. This includes both dry and sweet wines as well as fortified "sherry-like" wines aged in a solera. The grape has a long history on the island of Sardinia with Sardinians claiming that consuming ample quantities of wine produced from the grape as being responsible for low instances of malaria on the island.
Perricone is a red Italian wine grape variety that is grown in Sicily. In the late 20th century there was around 1000 hectares/2,500 acres of the grape planted throughout the island. Red berry flavors and medium alcohol content are commonly attributed to Perricone wines, but Oz Clarke describes them as full-bodied and alcoholic.
Romagna Albana is a white, still Italian wine based principally on the Albana grape variety produced in Bologna, Forlì-Cesena and Ravenna. It was awarded Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) status in 1967, and promoted to Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) in 1987, with a name change instituted in 2011.
Girò is a red Italian wine grape variety that is grown on Sardinia and is used mostly in the production of fortified wines in the Giro di Cagliari Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC). The grape was once widely planted throughout Sardinia but its plantings were decimated when the phylloxera epidemic hit the island at the end of the nineteenth century. At the turn of the 21st century there were 552 hectares of the grape planted throughout Italy, mostly in the Sardinian provinces of Cagliari and Oristano.
Vincenzo Florio Sr. was an Italian entrepreneur and politician, member of the rich Florio economic dynasty, one of the wealthiest Sicilian families during the late 19th century.
The Whitaker family is an English family notable for its involvement in the life of Sicily. Benjamin Ingham set up a wine business in Marsala and his relative Joseph Whitaker expanded and diversified the business. Their story is told in Raleigh Trevelyan's 1972 Princes Under the Volcano: Two Hundred Years of a British Dynasty in Sicily.
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