At its best, a fortified red wine can be rich, smooth, warming and very drinkable. At its worst, however, this can be the very embodiment of ‘cheap plonk’ – strong in alcohol, but far from a pleasant drinking experience. But just what is fortified wine, exactly and how can buyers know which bottles to go for and which to avoid?
Essentially, fortified wine is just a white or red wine to which a spirit has been added, boosting the alcohol content and dramatically altering the taste. As such, fortified wines are designed to be sipped rather than glugged and anyone attempting to drink fortified wine by the bottle, as they might with standard red wine, would certainly suffer the consequences. ‘Fortified wine’ is an umbrella term taking in many different varieties of drink, including but not limited to sherry, port, Madeira, vermouth and marsala.
Fortified wine is entirely different from spirits made from wine in that spirits are produced by means of distillation, whilst fortified wine is simply wine that has had a spirit added to it. The process was originally developed as a means of preserving wine, but today fortification is carried out more for taste purposes than for practical reasons.
The different types of fortified wine vary dramatically in terms of taste and drinking experience and it can take a little bit of time to find one that you like. It has to be said that, perhaps more than any other type of wine, fortified wine suffers from something of an image problem. Jibes about ‘cooking sherry’ are often made about bottles of bad wine, while even good bottles of fortified wine tend to be more commonly associated with grandparents’ Christmas tipple of choice than with the movers and shakers of the wine world.
Don’t let these negative associations dissuade you from trying fortified wines, however, as there are some genuinely delicious bottles out there once you know where to look.
Various factors can affect the style and taste of a fortified wine, including grape varietals, climate, distillation methods and the type of alcohol that is added during the fortification process.
The most commonly-used spirit in fortifying white and red wine is grape brandy, although a ‘neutral’ spirit derived from sugarcane or grain may also be used. When making fortified wine, the distilled spirit is added to the wine before grape fermentation is complete. In doing so, the distilled liqueur leaves residual sugar in place of yeast and the resulting drink is sweeter and stronger than standard red wine. The timing of the fortification is critical in determining the end result. As a rule of thumb, the earlier the alcohol is added in the fermentation process, the sweeter the fortified wine will be. Fortified wines run the gamut from very sweet to very dry and drier varieties, such as sherry, will see the distilled alcohol added close to the end of the fermentation process.
Alongside sherry, perhaps the most famous of all the fortified wines is Port. Sometimes known as Port wine, this is a sweet red wine hailing from the Douro Valley region of Portugal. Port wine is among the best introduction to fortified wines for red wine drinkers and a good bottle can be truly delicious. Port wine has many avid fans and tours of the Port wine regions are increasingly popular among visitors to Portugal.
Also famous for its fortified wine is the Portuguese island of Madeira, which lies between Portugal and North Africa. Sweet Madeira wines are a popular choice as dessert wines, while their drier counterparts are often enjoyed as an aperitif.
Vermouth, meanwhile, delivers a very different drinking experience to the other fortified wines on the market. Here, aromatic herbs are added to flavour the fortified wine, creating a truly distinctive taste that appeals to some drinkers far more than it does to others. The classic Vermouth is very dry, even bitter, but sugar is sometimes added to create a sweeter drink. Vermouth was developed in Italy and the process of using herbs to mask the taste of unpalatable wine is thought to be traceable right back to Roman times.
Sherry itself needs little introduction of course. Made from grapes grown in and around Jerez, Spain, this famous fortified wine is subject to European trading laws stating that any product bearing the name Sherry must legally be made in the ‘Sherry Triangle’, a designated area centred around Jerez itself.
Sherry may be dry, light and easily sippable, but is also available in darker varieties, which may also be a good deal sweeter. Wine drinkers who tend to find that their tastes gravitate to sweeter red wines rather than drier, more tannic varieties may find plenty to love about fortified wines. As the saying goes – try it, what’s the worst that can happen?
