1876 Facts About Sherry by Henry Vizetelly

FACTS ABOUT SHERKY.

I.—The Vintaging of Manzanilla.

To Jerez by Way of Gibraltar—Shakspeare's Panegyric of Sherry—On Board' the P. and 0. Steamer "Australia"—The Sherry Capital and its Sur rounding Vineyards—Excursion to San Lucar de Bairameda—Air. E. Davies's Vineyard of Torre Breva—The Vintage there—Treading and Pressing the Grapes by Night—Vintagers at Supper. In visiting the soutli of Sixain in the earlyautumn noroute is comparable to the G-ibraltar one, which enables the tourist to avail himself of the admirable accommodation provided by the Peninsular and Oriental line of steamers. Less than five days on the open sea on board a floating hotel is immeasurably pre ferable to three or four days and nights in a stfiffy railway carriage. In the former we find most of the comforts we have been habituated to on shore,and, what is of equal if not greater importance, one has not only complete confidence in the qualities ofthe ship,butinthe nautical skill of its ofiScers,allof whom pass a strict examination. The high pay, moreover,tempts into the service individuals of good social standing,so that the ofiicers of the P.and O. have one and all the courteous manners of gentle men. People on board get rapidly acquainted, which adds materially to the pleasure of the passage. The ice is broken the first afternoon, and before the second sunset flirtations are already in full swing, so that mammas, on the whole, have rather an anxious time of it guarding their daughters from the attacks of"detrimentals"—subalterns about joining their regi ments in India, or young fellows seeking their fortunes in Australia,to say nothing of trim-whiskered curates who,foregoing