Guide to Fortified Wine (Different Types, Best Bottles 2024, How It’s Made)

Fortified wine is made by adding a distilled spirit (like Brandy) to the base wine. 

Over the centuries, winemakers around the world have created an array of exotic fortified wine styles like Port, Sherry, Madeira, Marsala, Commandaria, and even flavored Vermouth.

Discover all about how fortified wine is made, the wine styles and best wines, how to serve it and food pairings, and if fortified wine deserves a place in your cellar.

How Is Fortified Wine Made?

The base wine for fortified wine is produced like any other wine - by fermenting the grape juice.

It is the process of fortification (adding distilled spirits like brandy to the base wine) that differentiates it from regular wine. This also increases the alcohol content of the resulting wine.

Winemakers use grape brandy, neutral grape spirit, or some other fortifying liquor made from grain or sugar beets to not influence the taste of the wine.

Distilled spirit is added at different stages of fermentation to vary the sugar levels of the final wine.

If the spirit is added before the fermentation is complete, the higher alcohol levels kill the yeast, and the wine is left with residual sugar - resulting in a sweet fortified wine.

If the spirit is added after fermentation, all sugar is converted to alcohol, making the wine dry.

Some fortified wines are also made from late harvest and botrytized grapes with naturally high sugar content. In such cases, the fermentation stops by itself since yeast cannot survive in an alcohol content of 16%-18%. 

So, the wine is left with sugar even after the fermentation process ends.

Most wines are aged in wood casks which give the wine nutty and oak notes. 

Now, fortified wines come in different styles, thanks to century-old winemaking traditions.

10 Types Of Fortified Wines (Including Best Wine Recommendations)

From age-worthy Madeira to Oloroso Sherry, there’s a fortified wine for every wine lover! 

1. Port Wine

Port wine is one of the most famous fortified wines in the world. It hails from the Douro Valley in northern Portugal. 

Port is typically a sweet red wine, but it can also be a dry, semi-dry, and white wine. 

More than 50 local grape varieties are allowed in the production of Port, but the primary ones include:

• Touriga Nacional 
• Touriga Franca 
• Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo)
• Tinta Barroca 
• Tinta Cao

There are five main types of Port wine:

• Ruby Port: A fresh and savory Port wine 
• Tawny Port:A barrel-aged port admired for its nutty flavors
• White Port: A dry or sweet Port made from local white grapes
• Rose Port: Produced through minimal exposure to grape skins
• Vintage Port: Made from the harvest of a single year

Best Port Wines to buy now:

• 1855 Taylor Fladgate Scion Vintage Port, Portugal ($4,298)
• W & J Graham's 'Ne Oublie' Tawny Port, Portugal ($8,256)

2. Madeira Wine

Madeira is another exceptional fortified wine produced in the Madeira Islands of Portugal. 

This fortified wine is produced in various wine styles, ranging from dry wine to sweet fortified wine. 

Dry Madeira wines are best consumed as an aperitif or with fatty meats and rich cheeses.

Sweet Madeira wine has exotic nutty flavors of walnut, caramel, and hazelnut, making them a perfect dessert wine. 

Their exceptional taste, brilliant aging potential, and limited availability make them one of the most sought-after fortified wines in the world.

Best Madeira Wines:

• 1790 H.M Borges Terrantez 'T' Vintage, Madeira, Portugal ($20,149)
• 1795 Companhia Vinicola da Madeira CVM Terrantez Vintage, Madeira, Portugal ($17,308)

3. Marsala Wine

Hailing from Sicily, Marsala is Italy’s gift for fortified wine lovers. Marsala wine has a range of wine styles. 

Based on sweetness level:

• Seco: up to 40g of residual sugar per liter
• Semiseco: 41g-100g residual sugar per liter
• Sweet: more than 100g of residual sugar per liter

Based on minimum aging required before bottling:

• Fine Marsala: one year
• Superiore: two years
• Superiore Riserva: 4 years
• Soleras: 5 years
• Soleras Riserva: 10 years

A typical Marsala has around 15%-20% alcohol content and has complex flavor notes of apricot, apple, vanilla, dried fruit, honey, licorice, and tobacco.

Best Marsala Wines:

• 1901 Marco De Bartoli Marsala Superiore Riserva, Sicily, Italy ($ 1,530)
• 1939 Cantine Florio Marsala Superiore Riserva Storica, Sicily, Italy ($ 1,047)

4. Sherry

Sherry is made from white wine grapes like Palomino, Pedro Ximenez, and Moscatel. This Spanish wine is produced in the three Andalusian towns - Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and El Puerto de Santa Maria.

Sherry can be either a dry wine or sweet wine. 

Dry Sherry wines are produced by the complete fermentation of grape juice. They have higher alcohol levels with fresh acidity. 

Dry Sherry wines are:

• Fino
• Oloroso
• Amontillado
• Palo Cortado
• Manzanilla

Sweet Sherry is produced from overripe or straw-dried grapes. This creamy Sherry has intense nutty flavors - a perfect alcoholic beverage to serve with dessert. 

These sweet wines come in two styles - Moscatel and Pedro Ximénez.

Best Sherry Wines:

• 1933 Williams & Humbert Coleccion Anadas Single Cask Oloroso Sherry, Andalucia, Spain ($5,433)
• Barbadillo Versos 1891 Amontillado Sherry, Andalucia, Spain (Price: $9,264)

5. Vermouth

Vermouth is an aromatized fortified wine containing herbs and spices like cardamom, cinnamon, marjoram, and chamomile.

Vermouth comes in two different styles - dry Vermouth and sweet vermouth. 

It has an average alcohol content of 15%-18%. Vermouth wine has floral and herbal aromas.

However, sweet Vermouth wines have robust vanilla, caramel, and dark fruit flavor. It is great for making cocktails (especially a mouthwatering Manhattan) because of its sweetness and lower alcohol levels. 

Best Vermouth Wines:

• Campari Cordial, Lombardy, Italy ($220)
• Riccadonna Rosso Americano Aperitivo, Piedmont, Italy ($172)

6. Other Fortified Wines

There are several other fortified wines:

• Moscatel de Setubal: It is a Portuguese fortified wine made from Muscat of Alexandria grape variety and an anise-flavored liqueur, aguardiente.

• Commandaria: Commandaria is a sweet, oak-aged wine made from two indigenous grape varieties - Mavro and Xynisteri. 

• Mistelle: Mistelle is a French fortified wine admired for its vanilla and tropical fruit notes. It is also an ingredient for Vermouth, Sherry, and Marsala.

• Vins doux Naturels: These are lightly fortified wines (containing grape spirit) made from white Muscat or Grenache in southern France. 

What about aromatized fortified wines?

What Is Aromatized Wine?

An aromatized wine is a type of fortified wine to which the winemaker adds herbs, spices, or even fruits to give it seductive aromas.

Some popular aromatized wines:

• Quinquina: An aperitif flavored wine comprising cinchona bark
• Americano: A bitter wine made with gentian root 
• Barolo Chinato: An Italian quinquina wine 

Now, if you’re drinking a fine fortified wine, you need to serve it right.

Serving Fortified Wine (Delicious Food Pairings, Cocktail Recipes)

Ruby and Reserve Port, Marsala, and sweet Madeira wines should be served slightly cooler than the room temperature.

Tawny Port, Sherry, dry Madeira, and Vermouth taste best chilled at around 12oC-15oC (55oF-60oF.)

Nuts and cheese make an excellent pairing for a dry fortified wine like dry Madeira. Sweet wine like Madeira is best served with a chocolate dessert or as a dessert wine.

Vermouth and Sherry also make great cocktail drinks - thanks to their aromatic intensity and complex flavors. 

Some refreshing fortified-wine cocktails you could try are:

• Martini: Stir 1-ounce Dry Vermouth and 3 ounces Gin with ice, strain, and garnish with lemon peel.

• Jerez Cocktail: Stir 2 oz Fino sherry, 1 oz peach brandy, and 1 oz triple sec and serve.
• Adonis: Stir 2 oz. Fino Sherry (or Manzanilla Sherry) 2 oz. Vermouth and 2 dashes of orange bitters with ice and serve.

Did you know some fortified wines can age for more than a century in the bottle?

That brings us to the next big topic about fortified wines.

Investing In Fortified Wine

Alongside the popular Port wine, Madeira and Sherry are also re-emerging as favorites among wine lovers and collectors.

Vintage Port and Madeira are some of the most long-lived wines. While Vintage Ports can age for 30-100+ years, the best Madeira bottles can improve for over 150+ years.

Also, since unique production rules regulate the alcohol content, sugar content, minimum aging, and even grape varieties of the wine and the fact that only a few renowned wine regions produce exceptional examples, the best fortified wines are rare and hard to get your hands on.