Fortified

How Fortified Wines Are Made

Fortified wines are the result of a spirit - generally brandy spirit being added to a table wine. This results in the fortified wine having higher alcohol content. According to Australian standards, fortified wine must contain at least 15% vol/alc and not more than 22% vol/alc. The majority of fortified wines will be marketed at between 17% and 20% vol/alc.

Solera Systems

This is a system of fractional blending that is commonly used in the production of fortified wines. A traditional system would have a barrel stack ranging from youngest at the top to oldest at the bottom. A proportion of wine is removed from the barrels in the bottom row for bottling. These are in turn topped up from the row above and so on. The very top row is topped up with new vintage wine.

In this way a very consistent wine over many years can be produced. The bottom barrels will always contain a proportion of the original vintage used in the solera.

Fortified Styles

The Sherry Method - The must, which is a mixture of juice, pulp, skins and seeds, is
fermented out, leaving a dry wine. The spirit is then added. If the final style of wine is other than dry, sweetening is added prior to bottling.

The Port Method - Must is only partly fermented, and the process is stopped by the addition of sufficient spirit to prevent the yeast working.

The major styles produced are "sherry" styles, "port" styles and sweet whites such as
muscats and Tokay.

• Sherry
  The common grape varieties used are Palomino and Pedro Ximinez. Both of these varieties are quite neutral in flavour. The three traditional styles in this category are Fino, Amontillado and Oloroso. In each case, the fermentation takes place much the same as any normal white wine.
  
  
• Fino
  Firstly, a fine, delicate base wine is selected. The wine is fortified to a level of around 15% vol/alc after fermentation. It is transferred to the upper barrels of a solera system and filled to about two thirds full where it is then seeded with "flor" (a strain of aerobic yeast which grows on the surface of the wine). Temperature and pH are important factors. The yeast imparts "nutty" characters to the wine. The wine may spend 12-24 months in this state to develop the desired characters. The resultant wine should be light, very dry and exhibit "flor" characters.
  
  
• Amontillado
  These wines undergo the above flor process however once sufficient character is
  developed; the wine is fortified further to around the 18% vol/alc. It is then transferred to a new Solera system and matured for a longer period in wood to develop more character. They are darker in colour, fuller wines with a touch of sweetness.
  
  
• Oloroso
  These wines do not undergo the flor process. They are fortified to full strength and matured for long periods in oak to develop character. They are considerably sweeter than the above wines.

Port

Ports can generally be categorised as either "tawny" or "vintage" ports. Tawny ports derive their name from the colour developed during maturation in wood. Winemaking techniques are similar to red wine production with the following exceptions:

• Grapes are generally picked much riper to extract greater flavour and colour plus to reduce the amount of alcohol needed in the fortification process.
• The true art of the winemaker is to obtain the desired amount of colour and extraction and still retain the ultimate sweetness in the wine before the addition of the alcohol. The addition of alcohol (apart from having a diluting affect) will also affect the colour stability.
• After fortification, the wine is clarified and transferred to oak for maturation. During this period, the wine will not only develop the tawny colour but also complexity. Preferential evaporation of water will concentrate the flavours and increase the acidity and sugar.
• Tawny ports are usually a blend of different batches and vintages. This is done to give the wine balance and consistency of style. Many winemakers will use a Solera system for their tawny ports.
• Vintage ports differ from tawny ports in that they are produced from at least 95% from the one vintage. Fruit selection is very important to obtain the right style and the spirit used for fortification is generally a low strength brandy spirit to add character. After a brief period in large oak these wines are bottled.
• The major difference between a tawny port and a vintage port is that the tawny style is ready to be consumed immediately after bottling as it has already been matured for many years in oak and will not improve with bottle age. Conversely, a good vintage port will be enhanced by many years of bottle maturation and should be cellared and treated like a red wine. Once opened, the vintage port should be decanted and consumed within a few days.

Muscats and Tokays

These fortified wines are produced from specific grape varieties. The Muscats are highly perfumed wines and may be produced from white, red or brown forms of the Frontignac grape variety. The most highly praised style in Australia comes from Rutherglen where brown Frontignac is dominant.

Tokay is produced from a white variety called Muscadelle.

In order to produce a premium Muscat or Tokay, the selection of the grapes and their degree of ripeness are the major contributors. They need to be very ripe to the point of raisin development in order to gain the desired degree of lusciousness in the final wine. Obviously, long-term maturation in oak will contribute significantly to the complexity.