Malmsey

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A sweet fortified wine produced in Madeira, Portugal, typically aged in casks and known for its rich amber color and complex flavor
2. A dessert wine made in Madeira and characterized by its fortification with brandy, sweetness, and deep amber to brown hue
3. A fortified wine from the Madeira region renowned for its sweetness, high alcohol content, and use as a dessert or after-dinner drink

Etymology: Malmsey is a sweet, strong wine, and its name comes from a fortress town. Monemvasia sits on a rock connected to the Peloponnese by a single causeway, and its name combines Greek "mónos", meaning "only one", with "émbasis", meaning "entering into", a reference to that one narrow approach. Medieval Venetian and Italian traders shipped the sweet wine made there across Europe, and the place name passed through Italian and Old French into other tongues. The wine's name took a route through the Low Countries before reaching England. Italian and French forms were adopted into Middle Dutch as "malemeseye", and from there it entered Middle English as "malmesye". Because it came into English by a different path from its French cousin, English ended up with two forms of the same name: the wine and "malvoisie", a doublet that descends from the same Monemvasia origin.

Synonyms: wine, dessert wine