Fortified wines are wines that have been strengthened, or fortified, by adding spirits to increase the overall alcohol content. Brandy is the most common spirit added to fortify wines, but any spirit including neutral grain spirits may be utilized for this purpose. Wine may be fortified at any point during the fermentation process. High levels of ethanol will effectively halt the fermentation process, so if a wine is fortified early in the fermentation process the resulting wine will be sweeter due to the remaining fermentable sugars still remaining in the wine.Examples of fortified wines include Port, Sherry, Madeira, and Marsala.