Editing Marsala wine (section)

==History==
Marsala fortified wine was probably first popularized outside [[Sicily]] by the [[Liverpool]] merchant John Woodhouse. In 1773, he landed at the port of [[Marsala]] and discovered the local wine produced in the region, which was aged in [[Oak (wine)|wooden casks]] and tasted similar to [[Spanish wine|Spanish]] and [[Portuguese wine|Portuguese]] fortified wines then popular in England.<ref name=ocw-m>{{cite web  |website=Winepros |format=Oxford Companion to Wine |title=Marsala |url=http://www.winepros.com.au/jsp/cda/reference/oxford_entry.jsp?entry_id=1923 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080808134130/http://www.winepros.com.au/jsp/cda/reference/oxford_entry.jsp?entry_id=1923 |archive-date=8 August 2008 }}</ref> Fortified wine in Marsala has always been made using a process called ''in perpetuum'', which is similar to the ''[[solera]]'' system used to produce [[Sherry]] in [[Jerez de la Frontera|Jerez]], Spain.<ref name="in per">{{cite web|last=Biancalana|first=Antonello|title=Wine Producers: Florio|publisher=DiWineTaste|date=June 2007|url=http://www.diwinetaste.com/dwt/en2007064.php|access-date=24 December 2007}}</ref>

Woodhouse recognized that the ''in perpetuum'' process raised the alcohol level and alcoholic taste of this wine while also preserving these characteristics during long-distance sea travel. Woodhouse further believed that fortified Marsala would be popular in England. Marsala indeed proved so successful that Woodhouse returned to Sicily and, in 1796, began its mass production and commercialization.<ref name="ice cream">{{cite web|last=Bridle|first=James|title=Marsala Ice Cream|publisher=Cooking With Booze website|url=http://cookingwithbooze.org/fortified-wine/marsala-ice-cream/|access-date=4 December 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114085700/http://cookingwithbooze.org/fortified-wine/marsala-ice-cream/|archive-date=14 November 2007}}</ref> In 1806, it was [[Whitaker family|Benjamin Ingham]] (1784–1861), arriving in Sicily from [[Leeds]], who opened new markets for Marsala in Europe and the Americas.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theflorentine.net/articles/article-view.asp?issuetocId=10074|title=Benjamin Ingham - The Florentine|date=28 May 2015}}</ref> Founded by Benjamin Ingham and later run by [[Joseph Whitaker (ornithologist)|Joseph Whitaker]] and William Ingham Whitaker.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ossett.net/ossett_people.html|title=SOME NOTABLE OSSETT PEOPLE|access-date=4 September 2020|publisher=Ossett}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dallaterra.com/producer/tenuta-whitaker|title=TENUTA WHITAKER|access-date=4 September 2020|publisher=Dalla Terra}}</ref> Joseph and his brother William Ingham Whitaker inherited vast vineyards and his great grandfather Ingham's banking empire.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cmricha/id45.htm |title=Whitaker |access-date=28 October 2020 |archive-date=11 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211140054/http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cmricha/id45.htm |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

In 1833, the entrepreneur [[Vincenzo Florio Sr.|Vincenzo Florio]], a Calabrese by birth and Palermitano by adoption, bought up great swathes of land between the two largest established Marsala producers and set to making his own vintage with even more exclusive range of grape.<ref name="SW">{{cite web|title=Marsala|publisher=SicilyWeb|url=http://www.sicilyweb.com/english/trapani/marsala.htm|access-date=2007-12-04}}</ref> [[Florio]] purchased Woodhouse's firm, among others, in the late nineteenth century and consolidated the Marsala wine industry. Florio and Pellegrino remain the leading producers of Marsala today.<ref name="producers">{{cite web|last=Thomson|first=Patricia|title=Sicilian Wine Reborn: A New Breed of Winemakers Is Shaking Up Sicily|publisher=Tastes OF Italia Magazine (via La Dolce Vita Wine Tours website)|date=July 2003|url=http://www.dolcetours.com/re_article6.htm|access-date=24 December 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080101051457/http://www.dolcetours.com/re_article6.htm|archive-date=1 January 2008}}</ref>