Marsala: more than a cooking wine

Marsala is a fortified wine from Sicily, often used in cooking. In tiramisu, for example, or in rich, caramelized sauces. But hey, I now know that Marsala is much more than just a cooking wine.

Is Marsala the Italian sherry?

No. Marsala does share some similarities with sherry. Both wines are fortified, meaning alcohol is added. However, there's one important difference. "Flor" plays a significant role in sherry. This isn't the case with Marsala. Both do use the solera system (Italian: perpetuum). In short, this means the wines are aged and fortified with young wine. Therefore, there's no vintage on the bottle.

The observant observer will sometimes notice a year on the bottle. That's correct. In good years, a vintage Marsala is made.

What makes Marsala so unique

I never knew there was such a complex process behind marsala. The classic recipe is a blend of the following ingredients, added in varying percentages depending on the style you want to create:

White wine from Grillo, Catarratto and Inzolia grapes (DOC wine from Sicily)
Grape distillate
'Mosto cotto' or cooked must (super concentrated, balsamic and sweet)
'Mistella' or must from DOC grapes diluted with grape distillate

During a Marsala tasting, the export manager of the Curatolo Arini winery explained that mosto cotto with a drop of white wine vinegar is a good (and widely used) alternative to balsamic vinegar.

Different types

There are several types of Marsala. They are classified by color, sugar content, and ripening time.

Colour:

Oro (golden yellow)
Amber
Rubino (ruby)

Sugar content:

Secco (dry) -> max 40 grams of sugar per liter
Semisecco (semi-dry) -> 41 to 100 grams of sugar per liter
Dolce (sweet) -> more than 100 grams of sugar per liter

Maturation:

Fine -> 1 year barrel maturation, 17% alcohol
Superiore -> 2 years barrel maturation, 18% alcohol
Superiore Riserva -> 4 years of barrel maturation, 18% alcohol