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Wines.
medicinal
properties
from
some
drugs
which
require
spirit
for
their
solution.
Some
idea
may
he
con-
ceived
of
the
vast
amount
of
wine
stored
in
Xeres,
when
in
the
warehouse
or
bodegas
of
M.
Domecq
alone
is
on
an
average
stored
15,000
butts
of
wine,
each
butt
averaging
108
gallons,
bottling
from
50
to
52
dozen
to
the
butt.
These
bodegas
are
large
warehouses,
very
lofty
and
well
ventilated,
and
are
filled
with
tiei’s
of
4
butts
of
wine
{soleras').
A
visit
to
a
bodega,
especially
if
accompanied
by
the
capitaz
(or
head
man),
will
be
found
worthy
of
remembrance
as
one
of
an
agreeable
nature,
espe-
cially
so
if
his
explanations
are
rendered
more
intelligible
by
a
bumper
drawn
from
the
most
ancient
“
Madre
”
butt,
which
invariably
contains
wine
that
is
the
accumulated
produce
of
some
50
vintages.
The
wine-merchants
of
Xeres never
export
their
stock
of the
oldest
and
finest
wines,
and
in
accordance
with
the
price
at
which
they
are
valued
so
the
wines
are
compounded.
Thus
a
butt
of
wine
said
to
be
30
or
40
years
old
will
contain
a
portion
of
the
vintage
of
several
seasons
;
for,
as
the
wine
is
drawn
from
the
butt,
it is
replenished
by
a
contribution
from
the
next
in
point
of
age
and
fineness,
and
so
on
through
the
bodegas.
The
workmen,
inclusive
of
the
capitaz
employed,
are