1876 Facts About Sherry by Henry Vizetelly

98

IFacts about Sherry,

a hill, and surrounded by olive-groves, orchards, and vineyards. Its ■wine is of no particular repute, but it is very different with that of Manzanilla, some fourteen miles farther along the high road from Seville to Huelva. TheManzaniUa vineyardsproduce a ■wine bearing so striking a resemblance to the celebrated growths of San Lucar de Barrameda, that these latter have come to be universally kno^wn under the same name. The slopes of the hill on which Manzanilla is situated are covered ■with ■vines, and aU the well-to-do inhabitants of the place have their bodegas stocked ■with the fresh-tasting ambrosial wine of which the little "village is so justly proud. Manzanilla is the last ■wine-gro^wing locality along our route that produces ■wine of any character; an extensive viticultural district kno^wn as the Condado de Niebla "yields, however, a considerable quantity of low-class sweetish white ■wine, nearly the whole of which finds its way to Moguer, a little to^wn on the Eio Tinto, where of late years a brisk trade in■wine has been carried on. The vintage hereabouts takes place in the middle of September, the different species of grapes cultivated in the district, including the garridomacho and fino,palomino,mantuo, perruano, zalema, and the mantuo de San Lucar, being all mingled in the lagares, and the coarser stalks even not beiag removed. Prior to our visit, at the opening of the ■vintage, grapes in the Moguer district were sold for as little as two reals, or fivepence, the arroba of 25-|^lbs.; but when the extent of the expected falling off in the Jerez crop became known, the price gradually rose ■until it had doubled itself. The pressing of the grapes is accomplished in the same fashion as prevails in the neighbourhood of Se^ville, and when the mosto is dra^wn off the lees in the spring somewhat less than 1per cent, of spirit is added to it. Should the wine remain for a second year in the grower's hands this is nrdinarily supplemented at the end of that time by a similar quantity of alcohol. The commonest ■wines are converted into spirit, an operation which m^ges to keep a couple of distilleries at Moguer constantly at work. The Jerez shippers are somewhat reticent as to the extent to