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The Marsala wine is classified as a fortified one, which is obtained with alcohol adding that increases the degrees and facilitates its stability.
It can be produced only in the territory admitted by the “disciplinare” (most of Trapani province) and it must be bottled in the original region. It is exclusively born from autochthonous grapes - the white ones Grillo, Inzolia, Catarratto and Damaschino, and the red ones Nero d'Avola and Nerello Mascalese - with prevalence of white grapes, due to the fact that the red ones are admitted just for Marsala Rubino, a new recently introduced type.
The classification of the various type of Marsala wine is based on different characteristics: the "tanning", the ageing time in barrels, the colour, the alcohol and the sugar content.
The first distinction must to be done among Marsala "Vergine", "Superiore" and "Fine". This is an important difference because the “Vergine” is produced without tanning and the other ones are tanned.
What does “to tanning” mean? The increase of basis alcohol degree is the feature that makes the Marsala a fortified wine, this happens adding ethyl alcohol (or wine spirit), obtaining a “vergine”. Adding alcohol, cooked must and “mistella” (this is the tanning), we obtain the Marsala “fine” and the “superiore”.
The various type of grapes, and the different tanning composition, establish the colour(it could be "gold" or "amber", relating to the adding of caramelized must, or "ruby" when red grapes are used), and the sugar content (“dry” when sugar content is less than 40 g per lt, “semisec” for values between 40 and 100 g per lt, and “sweet” for values over 100 g per lt).
The Marsala refining is made in wood, ideally oak one, and the minimum stay is one year for the “fine”, until over ten years for “vergine riserva”.
We said “minimum” because the ageing, key factor for the best Marsala wine production, can also last for decades. The great “riserve” age with the special method “Soleras”, a pyramid stacking barrels system, which in the youngest wine , year by year, is mixed with the oldest one , with fixed measures and in a continuum in the years. So that, the wine tapped from barrels in the pyramid basis is always the result of a long time refining and this process gives it evolved perfumes and a great complexity. The “Soleras” method is overall widely used for Marsala “vergine”.
In this schedule you can see the classification of various types of Marsala.
Some traditional designations, resulting from Marsala “English period”, are still alive and they can be added in the label at the producer’s discretion: among these, the most widespread are "I.P. - Italia Particular", for the “fine”, "S.O.M. - Superior Old Marsala", a superior dry Marsala, and the superior "G.D. - Garibaldi Dolce".
