Fortified wines: sherry, port and Madeira

Abstract

INTRODUCflON Definition and Scope Fortified wines, also known as liqueur or dessert wines, are produced by the fortification of fermented, partially fermented or unfermented grape must with wine-derived spirit. European Union regulations define liqueur wines generally as those having an acquired alcohol content by volume of between 15 % and 22 %, and a total alcohol content (i.e. acquired alcohol plus potential alcohol) of at least 17.5 % vol.; within these rules allowance is made for vino generoso, wines with 15.0 % vol. alcohol and less than 5 g 1-1 sugar produced in demarcated areas (Council Regulation (EC) No. 822/87, 1987). This definition conveniently covers the types of wines discussed here, where we shall consider only those wines whose alcohol has been partially or wholly acquired by fortification. We shall use the terms fortified, dessert and liqueur, when applied to wine, indiscriminately. Flavored wine-based beverages such as vermouths will not be covered here, nor will we consider the production of fortified wines based on the processing and fermentation of grape juice concentrate. 157 We shall attempt here to give a view of present day technology of production of fortified wines, concentrating on Sherry, Port and Madeira as produced in their demarcated areas in Spain, Portugal and the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira, and describing historical and traditional practices only where these are still in significant usage or where they serve to illustrate the evolution of modem techniques. Manyexcel-lent works exist which cover the history and development (e.g.