Marsala wine Marsala wine Marsala is a wine, dry or sweet, produced in the region surrounding the Italian city of Marsala in Sicily. Marsala first received "Denominazione di Origine Controllata" (DOC) status in 1969. The DOC status is equivalent to PDO: most countries limit the use of the term "Marsala" to those wines that come from the Marsala area, to which the European Union grants Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status. While the city's natives sometimes drink "vintage" Marsala, the wine produced for export is universally fortified similar to Port, Madeira and Sherry. Originally, this addition of alcohol was to ensure that
Flavored fortified wine the popularity of cheap, fortified wines in the United States arose in the 1930s, as a product of Prohibition and the Great Depression: While overtaken somewhat in the low-end alcoholic drink market by sweetened malt beverages by the 1990s, the appeal of cheap fortified wines to the poor and homeless has often raised concerns: In 2005, the Seattle City Council asked the Washington State Liquor Control Board to prohibit the sale of certain alcohol products in an impoverished "Alcohol Impact Area". Among the products sought to be banned were over two dozen beers, and six wines: Cisco, Gino's Premium Blend,