The Magic Of Marsala Wine For Cooking and Drinking

What Is Marsala Wine And What Is It Used For?

Marsala wine is a fortified  wine, used for drinking, and cooking chicken marsala and tiramisu. To make zabaglione, you add egg yolks and sugar to Marsala wine, or perhaps I should say, add |Marsala wine to egg yolks and sugar.

Sicilian Marsala Fortified Wine

Marsala Wine comes from the west coast of the island of Sicily, to the south of Italy. It is used in cooking to flavour the coating or sauce of Marsala chicken. Remember to type in the letter r in the middle, which I kept omitting as I typed this, and had to correct my typing. 

Indian Masala Dosai

The reason why your brain keeps omitting the r might be because you have often seen the similar word Masala, with the r, on Indian menus. I am very fond of masala dosai, a crisp bread rolled up and filled with spicy potato. Masala means mixed spice.

The Wine Education Place and People

WSET is the initials of Wine and Spirit Education Trust, which runs courses levels one, two, three and four, the diploma, as well as one off sessions on individual styles of wine. 

I went to WSET offices near London Bridge Station for a tasting of Marsala wine. A pre-Christmas treat, despite the snow earlier in the day and the dreadful chill. I wrapped up in a thick shirt, a ski jacket, warm gloves, and braved the weather. I had to go. We had paid a whopping fifty pounds each. My husband who is not just a member of the Association of Wine Educators not Association   and the Circle of Wine Writers, was keen to meet and hear from Abbie Bennington DipWSET who is not just a member of the WE but the current chair person in 2025.

WSET School The Place

The walk to WSET from London Bridge Station, the underground section from Euston, on the Northern line, takes you past the Overground of London Bridge, which goes to southern England, and along a very long tunnel under the overhead railway line.

The room was upstairs, past the ladies and gents toilets on different landings. Although the room was being set up with slate trays of nibbles and eight glasses per person and the tasting sheet, we were allowed in to put our coats down on our preferred seats. 

The People

We grabbed two seats in the front row and centre to be able to see and hear, ask questions and take photos of Abbie Benington and the slides she had prepared.

Fortified Wine

We tasted eight wines. All the wines were at least 18% alcohol which is the legal minimum for Marsala, which is a fortified wine. Other spirits tend to be about 14%. The figure of 15% used to be the point at which the duty payable on wine jumped up. Since this year, 2025, it has got more complicated, some would say simpler, with every gradual rise in percentage paying more duty.

My Favourite

My favourite wine was the sweetest. I nearly always like the sweetest, except when comparing only and all sweet wines, dessert wines. when the sweetest might be too cloying.

The name of the wine was the Garibaldi. He was the soldier and statesman who united Italy.

Affordable - Bargain

The really good news for buyers who are budget-conscious is that one of the top three favourites of the night was the cheapest Marsala at only £12.95.

Most buyers would save their expensive wines for sipping, savouring, and drinking. Use the cheaper wines for cooking.

Other Voters' Verdict

You can get many of the facts used in the wset event and my blog from Wikipedia.

Extra Information And Tasting

From me you also get a verdict on the wines, and the event, and up to date photos. 

From WSET you actually get to taste eight different wines, cheaper than the cost of two bottles to simply compare two. Plus a talk from an expert who has actually visited the cellars in Sicily.

Marsala Wine Producer Names

The three names you may notice are Cantine Pellegrino, Martinez, and Cantine Florio. 

Cantine is a French word, the English equivalent being canteen, meaning place where food is sold, usually in a school, factory or hospital or workplace. Also a water bottle or flask. Cantina, Italian, translates as winery. 

The water on our table had the label San Pellegrino, which sounds similar.  San means Saint, as in San Francisco which means St Francis. 

Pellegrino means pilgrim, or traveller to a holy place, from a word which originally meant stranger.

San Pellegrino is a brand name for bottled water, mineral water, currently, 2025, owned by Nestle of Switzerland. It comes from the San Pellegrino area  in Lombardy. The holding company is Sanpellegrino. Quite a distance from Pellegrino wine in Sicily in the far south of Italy, off the mainland.

Useful Websites

Marsala Wine Info

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsala_wine

Marsala Wine Sales

https://www.valvonacrolla.com/

WSET

wsetschool.com

AWE

https://wineeducators.com/

WW

Abbie Bennington DipWSET

Trevor

Angela

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