Fortified Wine: Port, Sherry, Madeira, Marsala and More

Fortified wine is wine with spirit added to it, which makes it stronger, often sweeter, and much longer-lasting than ordinary wine. The classics are Port from Portugal, Sherry from Spain, Madeira from its Atlantic island and Marsala from Sicily, joined by Vermouth and the French Vins Doux Naturels. Most sit between 15% and 22% alcohol. This guide explains how fortification works, how the styles differ, and how long each keeps once you open the bottle.

What fortification means

To fortify a wine, the winemaker adds alcohol: usually a neutral grape spirit, sometimes a wine brandy. European Union law calls these wines liqueur wines and sets the rules in Regulation 1308/2013:

• an actual alcohol content of at least 15% and no more than 22%;
• the added spirit is either neutral alcohol of vine origin at at least 96%, or a wine distillate at 52% to 86%;
• the base must or wine needs an initial natural alcohol strength of at least 12%, with exceptions for some protected wines.

In the US, the federal label rules (27 CFR 4.21) class grape wine above 14% and up to 24% alcohol as dessert wine.

Before or after fermentation: why it matters

The timing of the spirit decides whether the wine ends up sweet or dry.

• During fermentation (Port, Madeira, Vin Doux Naturel): the alcohol stops the yeast while sugar is still left, so the wine stays sweet. The IVDP, Port’s official body, says the winemaker sets a Port’s sweetness by choosing when to add the grape brandy, and the IVBAM says the same of Madeira.
• After fermentation (Sherry): the wine has already fermented dry. The Sherry Consejo Regulador says Fino and Manzanilla are fortified to 15%, which still lets a film of flor yeast grow and protect the wine, while Oloroso is taken to at least 17%, where flor can’t survive and the wine ages in contact with air.

The main types of fortified wine

Wine	Where from	How it’s fortified	Typical alcohol	Sweetness
Port	Douro Valley, Portugal	Grape brandy added during fermentation	19–22%	Sweet (White Port runs dry to sweet)
Sherry	Jerez area, Spain	Wine alcohol added after fermentation	15% (Fino) to 17%+ (Oloroso)	Mostly dry; PX, Moscatel and Cream are sweet
Madeira	Madeira island, Portugal	96% wine spirit added during fermentation, then heat-aged	17–22%	Dry to sweet, by grape
Marsala	Province of Trapani, Sicily	Grape alcohol or wine brandy	At least 17.5% (Fine) or 18%	Secco, semisecco or dolce
Vermouth	Many countries	Wine flavored with botanicals, alcohol usually added	14.5% to under 22% (EU)	Dry to sweet
Vin Doux Naturel	Southern France	Grape spirit added during fermentation	Lighter than Port	Sweet

Sources for each row are in the sections below.

Port

Port comes from the Douro Demarcated Region of northern Portugal. The IVDP says it is made by stopping fermentation with grape brandy (benefício) and usually has 19% to 22% alcohol. It comes in two families: young, fruity Ruby styles, including LBV and Vintage, and nutty, wood-aged Tawny styles.

Sherry

Sherry comes from the area around Jerez de la Frontera in southern Spain and is usually made from the Palomino grape. Because it is fortified after fermentation, the Consejo Regulador’s five dry styles (Manzanilla, Fino, Amontillado, Oloroso and Palo Cortado) carry at most 5 grams of sugar per liter under its rules; its style pages give under 4 grams for Fino and Oloroso. The Consejo lists Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel as naturally sweet sherries, and Pale Cream, Medium and Cream as sweet blends.

Madeira

Madeira is fortified with 96% wine spirit and then aged warm, either in heated tanks at 45–50°C for at least three months (estufagem) or in casks in warm lofts for years (canteiro), according to the IVBAM. The University of Madeira gives a range of 17% to 22% alcohol. The four classic grapes mark the style: Sercial (dry), Verdelho (medium dry), Boal (medium sweet) and Malvasia or Malmsey (sweet). See our Madeira wine guide.

Marsala

Marsala comes from the province of Trapani in western Sicily. Its official DOC rules call it a vino liquoroso, fortified with grape alcohol or wine brandy, and set a minimum of 17.5% alcohol for the one-year-old Fine and 18% for the older categories. Labels give a color (oro, ambra, rubino), a sweetness (secco, semisecco, dolce) and an aging category from Fine to Vergine. Our Marsala wine guide explains the labels and how to cook with it.

Vermouth

Vermouth is an aromatised wine rather than a classic fortified wine. Under EU Regulation 251/2014, an aromatised wine must be at least 75% wine, may have alcohol added, and must have an actual alcohol content of at least 14.5% and under 22%; vermouth is the version whose characteristic taste comes from Artemisia (wormwood) species. In the US, vermouth is classed as an aperitif wine, with at least 15% alcohol (27 CFR 4.21). Wine Spectator’s Dr. Vinny says most vermouth starts from a neutral white wine, even the red ones, and is typically brought to 15% to 20%.

Vin Doux Naturel

Vin doux naturel (VDN), “naturally sweet wine”, is the French family of lightly fortified sweet wines. Wikipedia says fermentation is stopped by adding up to 10% of a 95% grape spirit. They are made mainly from white Muscat or red Grenache, in appellations such as Banyuls, Maury and Rivesaltes in Roussillon, and Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise and Rasteau in the Rhône. They are generally lighter than Port: Wikipedia’s Rivesaltes entry puts that wine at about 16% alcohol, against about 20% for Tawny Port.

In our view, a chilled Muscat VDN is the easiest fortified wine for someone who usually drinks sweet white wine: it’s lighter than Port, and Wikipedia notes that Muscat VDNs are protected from oxidation to keep their freshness.

How long fortified wine lasts after opening

Fortified wines keep far longer than table wine once open, thanks to their alcohol and, often, their sugar. But the range is wide: the freshest, youngest styles fade within days, while wines that were oxidized on purpose barely change for months.

Style	Keeps after opening	Source
Vintage Port	1–2 days	IVDP
LBV and Crusted Port	4–5 days	IVDP
Ruby and Ruby Reserve Port	8–10 days	IVDP
Tawny and Tawny Reserve Port	3–4 weeks	IVDP
10–40 year old Tawny, Colheita	1–4 months	IVDP
Fino and Manzanilla Sherry	Up to about a week, in the fridge	Sherry Consejo Regulador
Other Sherries	Up to about 2 months, in the fridge	Sherry Consejo Regulador
VOS and VORS Sherry	About 3 months	Sherry Consejo Regulador
Madeira	Many months; Wine Folly says it “will keep forever when open”	Madeira Wine Company, Wine Folly
Marsala	About a month at its best (Wine Folly’s Marsala guide); its opened-wine guide says it “will keep forever when open”	Wine Folly
Vermouth	Up to a few months in the fridge; herbal notes fade after a couple of weeks	Wine Spectator (Dr. Vinny)
Vin Doux Naturel	No official figure we could find	See below

A few rules cover all of them:

• Recork and keep it cool. Wine Folly advises a cool, dark place, ideally the fridge, because heat and light strip fortified wines of their fresh flavors faster.
• Refrigerate the delicate ones. The Sherry Consejo Regulador says to keep Fino and Manzanilla in the fridge, tightly corked, and Dr. Vinny recommends the fridge, or at least cellar temperature, for vermouth.
• Sweeter lasts longer. Wine Folly’s rule of thumb is that the sweeter a dessert wine, the longer it lasts open. With no official figure for Vins Doux Naturels, we’d follow that rule and treat a fresh Muscat VDN like a Ruby Port, finishing it within a week or two.

We’d write the opening date on the label with a marker; it takes the guesswork out of a bottle that sits for weeks. Our chart of how long wine lasts after opening covers every other style.

How to serve fortified wine

• Small pours. The NIAAA counts 3 to 4 ounces of fortified wine (at about 17%) as one standard drink, compared with 5 ounces of table wine.
• Cool, not warm. The IVDP recommends serving Port slightly cool, from 4°C for Rosé Port to 12–16°C for Ruby. The Sherry Consejo says Fino and Manzanilla should always be chilled, and the Madeira Wine Company serves dry Madeira at 12°C and rich styles at 16°C.
• The right glass. The Madeira Wine Company recommends a typical Port glass for Madeira; in our view, a small white wine glass works for any fortified wine, because it leaves room to smell the wine.

Which fortified wine to try first

Our picks, by what you usually like:

• You like sweet reds: a Ruby Reserve or LBV Port.
• You like dry, savory whites: a well-chilled Fino or Manzanilla Sherry.
• You cook a lot: a dry Marsala Fine or a Rainwater Madeira, both of which keep for weeks or months once open.
• You like dessert wines: a Malmsey Madeira or a Pedro Ximénez Sherry.

We haven’t yet run fortified wines through our value rating method beyond the Port pick in our Port guide, so we don’t name more bottles here.

Wine is for adults of legal drinking age (21 in the US). Please drink responsibly.