“A wine worthy of any gentleman's table” Admiral Nelson defined it and he was absolutely right!
That fortified wine characterized by the intensity and warmth of our land became famous thanks to the intuition of an Englishman. Let's go in order... It was the year 1773 and Sir John Woodhouse, heading with his brig to Mazzara del Vallo, was surprised by a storm which forced him, against his will, to seek shelter in the port of Marsala. Once disembarked, the rich merchant sought refreshment in an inn. Here happens the meeting between an anonymous but good wine and a man with strong entrepreneurial skills. A winning combination in hindsight.
In a modest tavern, the Englishman Sir John had the opportunity to drink the best local wine, the one that the farmers reserved for special occasions. That nectar of the gods was called "perpetuum" and was left to age for years in oak barrels. Over time, some of the old wine was replaced with a younger wine. An operation that was always repeated... always... "in perpetuum" indeed! Over the years, wines from different vintages, thanks to this aging method, blended expertly. John Woodhouse loved it straight away... just a few sips to capture the aromas and flavors of that strip of land scorched by the sun!
No sooner said than done! He added a little brandy to the perpetuum, just to avoid any alteration during the voyage, and shipped fifty barrels of it to Liverpool with the intention of testing its effect. The “Marsala Wine”, as the English called it, was welcomed with great enthusiasm and within a few days the entire load of barrels was sold. An excellent Sicilian wine was born that would be appreciated throughout the world and would make the Woodhouse fortune.
Nice story right? … Told in this way, Marsala would be the result of a series of fortunate circumstances. But alas…this is the fictionalized version! The hypothesis closest to the reality of the facts is that Woodhouse knew the "perpetuum" well and the addition of two gallons of alcohol per barrel in order to guarantee good preservation was actually a strategic choice to obtain a product similar to fortified products such as, for example, Madera, Porto and Jerez which had enjoyed the undisputed favor of English consumers for over a hundred years.
The English never tired of researching new production areas and experimenting with new techniques to satisfy the different tastes of consumers across the Channel and Marsala wine was well suited to be used as a blending wine or to be sold for something else in an era in which the boundaries between adulteration, forgery, imitation and counterfeiting were almost non-existent.
The skilled merchant transformed the pre-existing wine into something different from the previous one with a truly appreciable final result. A product that had many affinities with the renowned Spanish and Portuguese wines but could not be marketed with the term "Marsala".
Too anonymous to compete with the most famous wines of the time. It is almost certain that for at least thirty years Woodhouse wine traveled anonymously or under a false name. In England it was sold as "Bronte di Madeira" and in the United States as "Sicily Madeira": in practice, a term of comparison was needed to make it recognizable and facilitate its sale in the large market of the British Empire of the time.
In the first half of the nineteenth century, Marsala wine began to free itself from the denominations that associated it with Madeira and established itself on the market with the denomination "Marsala", thus acquiring its own identity and reputation which would allow it to achieve the same prestige possessed by other wines already established internationally. Marsala, considered a myth in Italian oenology, can also be an extraordinary meditation wine capable of recalling aromas and flavors of other times.
With the right state of mind, enjoy it in small sips and in the right measure and this elixir will give you very particular and refined sensations. “Wine elevates the soul and thoughts, and anxieties move away from the heart of man” wrote Pindar a few years ago.
All we have to do is wish you a...good meditation!
Enjoy Marsala even through its most particular uses: you won't regret it!
