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
Santorini (wine) Italy and has historically been known as Italy’s “Holy Wine.” However, its origins partially lie in Santorini. Santorini was used as a trading port through much of history, but produced very little goods themselves. Only with the Venetian domination the island focused on the cultivation of wine that would be exported from the island throughout the Mediterranean. Packages taken from the island were labeled, “Santo,” to denote their origin. Wine from the island was denoted, “vin” or “vino” (the Italian word for "wine") to denote the packages contents; thus, the term “Vinsanto” was born. In 2002, the EU determined that