Fortified wine Madeira Islands. The wine is produced in a variety of styles ranging from dry wines which can be consumed on their own as an aperitif, to sweet wines more usually consumed with dessert. Madeira is deliberately heated and oxidised as part of its maturation process, resulting in distinctive flavours and an unusually long lifespan once a bottle is opened. Marsala wine is a wine from Sicily that is available in both fortified and unfortified versions. It was first produced in 1772 by an English merchant, John Woodhouse, as an inexpensive substitute for sherry and port, and gets its name from
Tyuleny Island (Sea of Okhotsk) hunted on the island between 1854 and 1897. Over 100,000 were caught, with over half being taken by foreign vessels illegally. This led to the seizure of several schooners by Russian men-of-war in 1884 and 1891 and the arrest of a party of seventeen men left by a British vessel in 1895. There are many seals on Tyuleny's shores and in its surrounding waters, hence its name which means "seal" in the Russian language. It was formerly called "Robben Island" from the Dutch name for seal. In the spring and summer seabirds nest on the island, including crested, parakeet and