1876 Facts About Sherry by Henry Vizetelly

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Facts about Sherry.

great age as tlie riclier,rotuster,and more prized Jerez ^owths. Witli manzanilla ten years is abont the extreme age of the bulk of the soleras, although their bases may date back for a century. The rearing of this ■wine appears to be as follows:—Themosto on being conveyed from the vineyard to the bodega is transferred, as already explained, into fresh casks, which, after being filled to within about a tenth of their full capacity, are ranged in rows one above the other, the lowest butts being placed on stone sup ports to prevent them from being attacked by a destructive insect common to these parts. In several bodegas we noticed that the bungs in front of the casks containing sweet ■wine were covered ■with tin as a protection against the San Lucar rats, which exhibit a strong partiality for vino dulce, but leave ordinary ■wine untouched. During the period the must is fer menting—that is, until the ensuing February—the bungs are left entirely out of the casks, or placed loosely over the apertures, and in April the ■wine is racked from its lees, when it receives a moderate quantity of spirit, usually, we were repeatedly assured, no more than1or 2 per cent., and is then used to replenish the lowest scale of the solera. All the San Lucar almacenistas, or rearers of wine, of whom we made inquiries, were unanimous in stating that no further spirit was added to the ■wine up to the time it left their bodegas, when it would contain less than the orthodox 26 degrees of proof spirit. On the other hand, we were informed by the Jerez -wine-shippers that much of the manzanilla whenit reaches them indicates upwards of 26 degrees of strength. * Once or at most t^wice every year the ■wine is passed from the lower to the upper scales of the solera, which at San Lucar never number less than ten, when about half the contents of each particular butt is ordinarily left remaining init. On these occasions the wine is always carefully selected, any casks which have undergone a disadvantageous change being put aside for blending with inferior qualities. This system of soleras neces sitates the employment of a large capital, but it materially aids the development and improvement of the ■wine, the continual