Ancient and delicious wine

Marsala remains one of Italy's favourite liquid imports

Now that the holidays are over and the snow is here to stay for a while, it's time to sit back in the big arm chair, light a fire, get out the evenings paper and sip on a wine that is warming from the inside out. Just sit back and relax with a glass of Marsala.
The most celebrated product of Sicily is named after the town of Marsala in the province of Trapani at the western end of the island. Although it may be declining in popularity today, Marsala remains one of the great original wine styles of Italy.
Like many of the fortified wines of Europe, Marsala has an English connection. It was first invented in 1773 by a wine merchant and port and sherry specialist of the time, John Woodhouse. In the rough and ready way of the time, he simply added a quantity of brandy to the traditional white wines of western Sicily. This fortification was commonly done to help the wines endure the long journey to the thirsty English. The result was a reasonably close approximation to the already established fortified wines of the time - port and sherry.
Later on in 1832, the "father of the Sicilian wine trade," Calabrian Vincenzo Florio, set up his company in the midst of the British competitors. His large company occupied a full kilometre of sea frontage and was the first industrial type Italian vinicultural enterprise of the time. In 20 years, Florio, who was also the owner of a steamboat firm, succeeded in taking over many of the markets first developed by the English and became the leader in the wine trade at Marsala.
Marsala, the wine, was celebrated for at least a century but triumph was followed by a long period of progressive decline in the wine's image and popularity. Production far exceeded the market's demand and the prices plummeted. More recent proposals by the Marsala producers for the relaunching of the wine resulted in a series of laws that tightened the production discipline and in 1969, the wine received its DOC status, stipulating specific types and regulations. These efforts have restored the wine to its due level of prestige and the quality of Marsala is better today than they ever have been.
Marsala can be produced by one of three methods. Local grape varieties Grillo, Inzolia and Catarratto can be fortified with grape spirit in the traditional way or sweetened and strengthened with either alcohol boosted juice from ultra sweet, late ripened grapes or with cooked grape juice concentrate known as mosto cotto. Concentrate is only permitted in the Ambra Marsala while. The best Marsalas have natural sweetness from ripe grapes, which is retained through interrupted fermentation. The wines are then cask aged for varying periods of time.
Marsala is classified by age and sweetness. Marsala labelled Fine is one year old; Superiore is two; Superiore Riserva four; Vergine five and; Stravecchio ten. Fine and Superiore are both produced using the ancient method of adding spirits. The most highly esteemed version is the unsweetened Vergine, which can bear the stravecchio (very old) label after 10 years of solera ageing (the classical way of ageing sherry). The best grades of Marsala are Superiore Riserva and Vergine, which are not permitted to use the mosto cotto method.
Styles range from the austerely dry (secco) to the liquorously sweet (dolce) but common to all of them is a smoky, almost caramelized burnt-toffee tang that is Marsala's unique characteristic. It also comes in three colours. The better grades are both shades of tawny, either amber (ambra) or golden (oro) but there is a red version too (rubino).
Marsala has become as valuable an ingredient in the kitchen as Madeira has. These days, most of the Marsala goes into zabaglione or tiramisù while scaloppini of veal is often sauced with a syrupy brown reduction of Marsala.
The sweet amber Marsala is best suited to sweet desserts like Sicilian marzipan and delicious in combinations that are beyond the scope of other wines, such as chocolate tortes and pastries.
But the best Marsalas deserve to be appreciated on their own as seductive alternatives to the more familiar after-dinner drinks. Great to enjoy by the fire and to keep the winter chill away.
Dry and medium dry Marsala of which there is unfortunately only a small amount available, should be served chilled in small sherry glasses as an after dinner drink. The sweetest styles should be served at room temperature as digestives or with certain types of aged, dry cheese like grano padano. It is the sweet version that is best suited for classic Italian desserts.

Publication Date: 2003-01-26
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=2263