become more concentrated, each is
replenished with wine from the next younger
cask. The final wine is bottled from the casks
containing the oldest wines, and thus is a
blend of wines from many different vintages
and degrees of development.
There are a variety of rapid industrial
methods for making sherry-like wines. The
fortified base wines may be heated to develop
the flavor, or cultured with a “submerged
flor”: the wine and flor yeasts (see box) are
kept in large tanks and agitated and aerated.
Vermouth Modern-day vermouth derives
from a medicinal wine made in 18th-century
Italy, which the Germans named Vermut after
its main ingredient, wormwood (see box, p.
771). Today it’s essentially a flavored wine
fortified to about 18% alcohol, used mainly in
mixed drinks and in cooking. Vermouth is
made in both Italy and France from a neutral
white wine flavored with dozens of herbs and