What is Marsala Wine?

Marsala is a region and a wine located in Sicily, an island that is just south and part of Italy. There is both red and white, sweet and dry Marsala, however it is the sweet red Marsala that is typically used in cooking. Marsala is in the category of fortified wines, like Port wine, which means that additional alcohol is added. With Marsala, the base wine is fermented to about 12% alcohol and then it is fortified to bring the alcohol up to 17-18% alcohol. The Florio Marsala that I currently stock is called a fine Marsala. “Fine” means that it was aged for at least one year in oak or cherry wood barrels. Some Marsala is aged much longer and those are typically used for drinking rather than cooking.

The longer aged Marsala wines are Superiore, Superiore Riserva, Vergine, and Vergine Riserva. They are aged for at least 2, 4, 5, and 10 years respectively. These are the wines enjoyed very much in Sicily, but are not as common in the united States.

Hopefully, this information will help you the next time you decide to make a dish such as chicken marsala. If you have any great Marsala recipes please feel free to share in the comments.