SUB-ZERO WINE BLOG

Many fortified wines – Sherry, Port, Madeira and Marsala – date back to the days when Britannia ruled the waves. Since England had next to no domestic wines, the roaming English had to ship wine back home, and to their colonies in North America, from various wine-rich regions in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. The Brits discovered that they could stabilize these local wines for the long sea voyage by adding extra alcohol to them in the form of brandy. Most of these “fortified” wines are still known today by the names of the places where they originated: Port, from Oporto in Portugal; Sherry, from Jerez in Southern Spain; Madeira, from the Atlantic island of that name; and Marsala, from the town in Western Sicily.

The natural business acumen of the British led to the founding of major shipping houses for fortified wines. Many of these companies became dynasties which still exist today. This explains why so many brands of Port, Sherry and other fortified wines still have Anglo-Saxon names: Symington, Dow, Sandeman, Osborne, Taylor-Fladgate, Cockburn, Woodhouse and many others.

Port, Sherry and other fortified wines have traditionally appealed to the English taste and their success in the States has been somewhat mitigated by the perception of them as old-fashioned. But it pays to discover the best versions of these magnificent and historic wines. Ports, especially, have become more modern in style recently, with leaner flavor profiles. I especially love the versions from Taylor-Fladgate.