Written by DEVON TREVATHAN
Rediscovering an Age-old Partnership
FORTIFIED WINES F
neutral spirit is also used as a fortifying alortified wines tend to stump some cohol, as is neutral alcohol made from sugfolks. For a type of alcoholic beverar beets or sugarcane. age that actually has the definition in the When the higher-strength spirit is addname, it’s amazing how murky its waters ed to wine prior to completion of the fercan seem. Shedding some light on fortified mentation, it kills the yeast, stopping the wines, which appear to be getting more fermentation and leaving residual sugar and more popular each year following a behind to create a fortified wine with a decades-long slump, requires a look back sweeter profile. If the at practices of the past. wine was left to ferment Fortified wine is The most common to the point that the alcowine that has had dishol would become toxic tilled spirit added to type of distilled spirit to the yeast and eventuit, bringing up its alcoally halt its metabolism, hol content, but that’s used to fortify wine the resultant wine would not the only use that is grape brandy; be considered dry, as this inclusion can have. most of the sugar present Humans have known a reasonable practice in the must would have for centuries that highbeen converted to alcostrength alcohol stays as both wine and hol. The fortification probetter, longer, than its cess, however, can stop lower ABV alternative. grape brandy are that metabolism earlier Adding a fortifying spirmade from grapes. via the inclusion of the it preserves the wine higher strength alcohol. for greater stretches, As a result you have a wine that is both however, that simple explanation hardly sweeter and stronger, normally finishing touches on the expansive world of flavor somewhere between 15 and 20 percent present in fortified wine. Classification is alcohol, 30–40 proof. Producers can modmore strict and specific when you consider ify the sweetness of their fortified wine by individual types of fortified wine, such as adding the fortifying spirit at a certain time Madeira, port, or sherry. These names are during the wine’s fermentation. In the case protected geographical indicators and can of dry fortified wine styles, such as sherry, only be used when the beverage in questhe fortifying alcohol is added to the wine tion has met a certain list of standards. shortly before or after the initial fermentaThe most common type of distilled tion has completed, resulting in a beverage spirit used to fortify wine is grape branthat has less residual sugar and a different dy; a reasonable practice as both wine and flavor profile. grape brandy are made from grapes. Grape
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SHERRY
Sherry is one of the best known varieties of fortified wine, although common knowledge of its history and flavor has been heavily influenced by certain brands. Sherry is produced in Spain’s Jerez region in an area commonly referred to as the Sherry Triangle, and it must be made from a short list of approved grape varietals: Muscat, Palomino, or Pedro Ximénez. Sherry’s profile is unique for fortified wine, as it tends to be drier and nuttier than port or Madeira. This is a result of choices by the producers — not only is the fortifying alcohol usually added later, allowing most of the sugar in the wine to have been fermented to alcohol, but sherry makers intentionally expose their wine to oxygen. This process oxidizes the wine, creating a nutty, briny flavor profile. In sherry bodegas, solera aging is common; sherry makers will blend whole barrels of sherry with portions of older wines as they all continue to age. This fractional aging and blending via a tiered system of barrels, called criaderas, allows young and old wines to mingle and age together in the hopes of ensuring more consistency and complexity in the final bottled product. After being fortified with grape spirit, sherry will typically end up somewhere between 15-18 percent alcohol by volume, meaning that sherry must be refrigerated after opening. Due to the fortification, however, sherry will stay fresh roughly four times longer than typical wine. Sherry comes with its own subclassifications, including both dry and sweet styles. Wines intended to be sherry that are made from the Palomino grape will be fermented and some will be encouraged to
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