What's The Difference Between Aromatized And Fortified Wine?

Dionysian foodies and professional-enjoyers, lend us your ears (and your palettes). Today, we're talking about wine, and not just any type of wine — the high-ABV, botanical-loaded elixir made for sucking out the marrow of life. It's thick praise, but not egregious. Wine-lovers have been aromatizing their vino since the ancient foodies infused their ritualistic herbal wines with fruits, berries, and botanicals. Clearly, there's no shortage of artistic romanticism here. So, on a more pedagogical note, what exactly makes aromatized wine different from fortified wine?

The practice of aromatization might have originated in the medicinal realm. Per the lore, herbs were first infused in wine as a vehicle for getting them into the body quickly and in high concentrations (i.e. drinking wine-steeped juniper berries to remedy inflammation). Some folks credit the technique to Ancient Greek scientist Hippocrates. Alternatively, some food historians theorize that wine infusion stemmed from a utilitarian desire to make cheap brews taste better. Either way, the practice has stuck around centuries later and evolved into a viticultural art form.

Fortified wines are spiked with added alcohol, and technically, aromatized wine is a subcategory under the fortified wine umbrella. However, aromatized wine's infused ingredients is the added step that sets them apart from regular fortified wines, which contain no infusions at all. Still, both types are so dimensional that they have even entered the cocktail sphere. Vermouth, for instance, is an aromatized wine that is found in many a cocktail.

It would not be incorrect to think of aromatized wines as a midpoint between wine and gin. Like fortified wines, aromatized wines are also made with added alcohol, yielding a higher ABV. However, the addition of herbs and botanicals is unique to aromatized wine. With aromatized wines, it's all about the infusion.

Aromatized wines can be made from red or white wine, although white is more common. Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Muscat, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, Vlognier, and Torrontes grapes are frequently used. Often, the floral or botanical infusion ingredients are selected to complement the existing aromatic compounds (monoterpenes) present in the chosen white wine grapes. During the production process, aromatized wines are almost never subjected to malolactic fermentation or aged in oak barrels, as the acids and woody oak can both mute or erase those delicate, carefully crafted tasting notes.

Beyond their typical ABV of 13% to 24%, aromatized wines can range widely depending on their infusion ingredients: any combination of roots, herbs, spices, flowers, leaves, fruits, barks, and citrus peels. Bitter herbs like gentian, quinine, and wormwood aren't uncommon (absinthe lovers, rise up). Spices like cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, gin-esque juniper berries, pink peppercorn, nutmeg, chamomile, and saffron can all create a lively batch. Eucalyptus and tree bark might impart a weedy, bitter-earth taste, grapefruit and bitter orange peel would keep it bright, and geranium, honeysuckle, and rose could come together for a floral bouquet in a glass.

The authority at Merriam-Webster defines "fortified" as "made stronger." This is a fantastic way to remember that fortified wines are regular wines spiked with an added neutral distilled alcohol. The Big Three most common fortified wines are Portuguese port, Spanish sherry, and Sicilian marsala (we even like to add this one to our tiramisu), all of which are wildly different from each other. Beyond their higher ABV (15%-22%) from the usual grape brandy, these fortified wines all feature such unique profiles and characteristics that in some ways, they can't even be compared as similar.

To make fortified wines, the neutral spirit is added midway through the fermentation process or post-ferment. The stage at which the neutral spirit is added controls how sweet or dry the wine will be. It's all thanks to a scientific reaction: Brandy's presence in the wine kills the yeast, halting the fermentation process and protecting the sweet tasting notes from turning acidic. This process is why many fortified wines, like Port, are classified as dessert wines. Adding the spirit post-ferment yields a dryer wine.

The practice of fortifying is thought to have originated as a stabilizer. The neutral spirit fights against oxidation, helping wine retain its quality during aging or transportation. Even after opening the bottle, those strong fortified wines can retain their quality for three weeks or longer, while their unfortified counterparts tend to turn to undrinkable vinegar in the span of a few days.