Marsala secco

Marsala sec

What it is

John Woodhouse, a Liverpool merchant sheltering at Marsala in 1773, fortified the local wine for the voyage home and found that England would buy it; a quarter-century later Nelson's fleet was ordering it by the pipe. The dry bottling, from Grillo grown on the western Sicilian plain, finishes on bitter almond — the note that reads as savoury depth in a pan sauce.

In the kitchen

Buy the bottle marked secco or vergine; the sweet one turns a scaloppine into dessert. Deglaze off the flame and reduce by half before any butter goes in, or the sauce will split.

Goes with

Veal rump Chicken Button mushroom Sage Butter Parmesan

Same species

Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale DOP Amontillado Armagnac Banyuls Brandy de Jerez Champagne vinegar

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