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An Englishman in Marsala
In this post I’m going to tell you the story of Marsala and how the British invented it. After many years in which this fortified wine was forgotten, nowadays some Italians winegrowers are starting to produce good Marsalas again, trying to enhance all the characteristics that made it famous since 1773. Marsala is a town in the province of Trapani and it’s famous for its salt marshes (saline), vast marshes of seawater from which salt is extracted
Fifteen days ago I spent the weekend at a farmhouse near Viterbo, and at the end of the meal was served a glass of Marsala Riserva, with a softness and taste that I had not felt in a long time, imported from Sicily, the homeland of the owners of the farmhouse. Marsala is a fortified wine, obtained by adding neutral brandy to the base wine, and in some types also boiled must (mosto cotto). I will explain this later.
A ship in the storm
In 1773, John Woodhouse, aboard his ship Elizabeth, stopped at the port of Marsala (Mars-Allah, the Port of God in Arabic) in Sicily, due to a storm while traveling from England to Mazara del Vallo, even in Sicily. Walking in the town waiting for the storm ends, he stopped at a town’s tavern where he tasted a wine from Grillo, Cataratto and Inzolia that greatly reminded him the Spanish Xeres and Portuguese Port. It was a thick, fragrant wine, one that the Mr…
