Other Fortified Wines

By the late nineteenth century, the wine industries of South Africa and Australia were producing modestly priced port- and sherry-style sweet wines on an industrial scale primarily to supply the British market. After World War II, when Britain’s consumption of sherry declined significantly, they switched increasingly to dry table wine production. Only Rutherglen in Victoria, Australia, managed to build such a reputation for Tawny port (usually from the Shiraz, Mataro, and Grenache grapes) and similar sweet fortified wines from the Muscat grape that it defied this change in fashion. These wines can match the best Portuguese tawny ports, but they tend to be even lusher.