The occurrence of ethyl carbamate (EC) in fortified wines was studied testing different model wines under accelerated ageing (45 • C for 4 months and 70 • C for 1 month), to investigate the possibility of arginine (Arg) being a direct precursor of EC in fortified wines, comparing it with known major precursors, urea and citrulline (Cit). Wine main sugars were appraised as possible catalysts, as previously pointed out. Model wines showed that: Arg can induce the EC formation under accelerated ageing, even without being metabolised by microorganisms; although much less reactive, Arg can play a significant role since high residual levels can occur in young fortified wines; glucose (Glc) and fructose (Fru) suppressed the EC formation from urea and Cit pathways, in about 11-26%.Moreover, Madeira wine samples were investigated in order to appraise the eventual contribution of the alcoholic fortification. The results revealed that this step can promote a decrease of the amount of these EC precursors up to 46%.Despite preliminary, additional information about the EC formation in fortified wines was obrained namely for designing new mitigation strategies, which can pass through the reduction of residual Arg.