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Wines.
this
generous
wine.
Shakspeare,
who
no
doubt
had
partaken
of
some,
which
Lord
Essex
brought
home
from
the
sacking
of
Cadiz
in
1596,
says:
“Your
Sherries
warms
the
blood,
which
was
before cold
and
settled,
and
left
the
liver
white,
which
is
the
badge
of
pusillanimity,
but
the
Sherries
makes
its
course
from
the
inwards
to
the
parts
extreme.”
The
controversy
amongst
antiquarians
and
Sbak-
spearian
annotators
concerning
this
wine
is
thus
disposed
of
by
Mr.
Ford,
who,
in
speaking
of
Sherris
Sack,
says,
“
The
term
used
by
Falstaff,
no
mean
authority
on
this
matter,
is
the
precise
c
Seco
de
Xeres/
the
term
by
which
the
wine
is
known
to
this
day
in
its
own
country.
The
epithet
seco
or
dry,
the
sack
of
old
English
authors,
and
the
sec
of
French
ones,
being
used
in
contradistinction
to
the
sweet
malmseys
and
muscadels,
which
are
also
made
of
the
same
grape.”
The
finest
and
driest
sort
of
Xeres
wine
is
Amontillado
•
and
the
peculiarity
of
its
flavour
is
a
mystery
of
nature
that
has
not
been
correctly
solved.
When
the
farmer
intends
making
this
wine,
the
grapes
are
plucked
about
a
fortnight
before
the
general
vintage,
and
the
produce
kept
apart
;
out
of
20
butts,
how-
ever,
it
generally
happens
not
above
two
will
have
the
quality
so
much
desired.
Sometimes,
as
if
by