Wines for romantics

Henry Jeffreys enjoys the heady pleasure of fine marsala

A FEW YEARS AGO A publisher I had worked with previously asked me what I wanted to write next. I replied that I’d been thinking about something on the great lost fortified wines of the world. She looked at me askance and then said that she couldn’t think of a less commercial book. I never heard from her again but I still think it’s a great idea and the place I’d start would be western Sicily, home of Marsala. The wines from Marsala were once spoken of in the same breath as sherry, port and madeira. Indeed, Marsala began life as a madeira substitute. In the 1780s the Liverpudlian merchant John Woodhouse visited Sicily, tasted the wines and noted their similarity to madeira, which was all the rage. He fortified…

You're reading a preview of

The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, February 2023

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.