John Woodhouse is the legendary English merchant credited with the "discovery" of Marsala in 1773. By adding wine spirits to local Sicilian casks to ensure they survived the long sea voyage to England, he effectively created the fortified wine we know today. After gaining global fame as the preferred spirit of the British Royal Navy, famously celebrated by Admiral Horatio Nelson, who described it as wine "worthy of any gentleman’s table.", he founded the Woodhouse & Co. in Marsala, a pioneer firm for fortified winemaking. This reserve was aged with a Solera starting from 1815 before being bottled in the 1970s, representing the pinnacle of amber Marsala due to the historical "Concia" process. The addition of "mosto cotto" (cooked grape must) gives the wine its deep, luminous amber color and a unique aromatic density. It offers a much more complex and opulent bouquet compared to Marsala Vergine, with intense notes of medjool dates, exotic spices, roasted coffee, and licorice. The bottle is in wonderful conditions, coming from a private collection.