In the 15th century it was still made predominantly in Greece, from whence its name derives (Monemvasia on the coast of Laconia), and very popular with those English who were rich enough to afford it.
Like other wines, Malmsey is sometimes sold in containers called butts whose size depends on what kind of wine it is but that hold somewhere around a hundred gallons. George Clarence, brother to King Edward IV of England, was said to have been drowned in a butt of Malmsey in the Tower of London in 1478.