1876 Facts About Sherry by Henry Vizetelly

Other Jerez Vineyards

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and handsome houses, generally -with towers and encompassed hy trees or surrounded by pleasant gardens, together with numerous smaller casas,were seen among the rolling sea of vines. They were almost invariably unoccupied; for the well-to-do vineyard proprietors around Jerez dare not indulge ia the pleasant patriarchal habit of sitting under their own vines and fig-trees. Atlength we reached the Tula vineyard in the lower Balbaina district, its casa resembling a Moorish castle with tail battlemented keep,surmounted by a turret,and flanked by small rormd towers with cupolas, and having even sham cannon peep ing from its embrasures above clusters of brilliant rose laurels- The large almijar, too, was inclosed with pointed battlements. This costly whim appears to have brought ruin upon the late proprietor, and the vineyard passed into the hands of Senor Q-onzalez. From the summit of the tower a view is gained in one direction over miles of undulating vineyards, while in another we catch sight of Cadiz and its bay, with Rota,famed for its Tent wine.Port St.Mary,and San Lucar,the long line of peaks of the Sierra de Jerez rising up in unbroken succession in an easterly direction. The Tula vineyard comprises about sixty acres, and at the time of our visit the vintage was drawing to a close,for the final carretadas of grapes were being trodden in the lagares. The capataz here was a great connoisseur in fight ing-cocks,and had acollection of these pugnacious birds shut up in separate cages. With the lower-class Spaniards cock-fightino- is almost as favourite a pastime as the national corrida de toros itself. Our next excursion was to some of the vineyards of the plainto the eastand north-east of Jerez. The vineyards situated on this side in the immediate neighbourhood of the town are believed to be the most ancient of aU. At any rate, distinct aUusion is made to them in a contemporary Arab accoimt of the siege of Jerez in 1285 by the army of Jusuf,who is described as having the vines cut down preparatory to pitching his camp The road we took was skirted on the left by a gigantic hedge of prickly pears, little short of twelve feet in height and sohd in