1876 Facts About Sherry by Henry Vizetelly

Contents.

PAGE.

V.—The Wines of Jeeez—Blending Sheeet foe Shipment.

System of Tiniftcation at Jerez—Vinos Finos and their Development into Palmas—Cause of Amontillado—Genuine Brown Sherries—Palos Cortados and Olorosos—^Varieties of Eayas; Enti-e-finos, Bastos, Bedondos,and Ahocados—Maladies of the Jerez Wines—The Bearing of them by Seasons and hy Soleras—^Vinos Dnlces; Pedro Jimenez— Vino de Color—Classes of Jerez Wines Shipped to England—namely, Natural Wines, Vintage Wines, Solera Wines, and Blended Wines— Blending of Sherry in the Cosens Bodegas—The Process in all its Details—The Grand Finos, Amontillados, Olorosos, and Pasados of Cosens and Co.—Establishments of the Firm at Jerez and Puerto de Santa Maria 44 , Vi.—The Assumed TJnwholesomenbss of Sheeet. The Careful Bearing which the finer Jerez Wines Undergo—The Great Age they Attain—The Blending ofSherryan Artistic Operation—The Late Outcry Against the Wine—Highly-coloured Statements put forward and the motives which prompted them—Befutation of the Attaeks— Gypsum in Burton Beer—Scientific Investigation of the Plastering of Winein France—Itis declared to heInnocuous—FreshInvestigations on the part of the French Government with a like result The Sulphuring of Wines—Opinion ofthe Vienna Jury upon the point . 56 A Great Jerez Shipping Establishment—The Offices, Press-house, and Cooperage—The Stables,the Shipping Bodega, and the Sample-rooms —Maturing of the Commoner Wines—TheBodega dela Union and its Annexes—Huge Tuns known as Los Apostoles—The Parte Arroyo and Senor Gonzalez' Blind Bargain—The Constancia Bodegii and the Bomano Wine—The Bodega de los Ciegos and the A.B. Wine The Bodega Vieja and Senor Gonzalez'"Piano" Tk® Bodega de la Bosa and the Methusalem, Noah,and La Beyna Wines The Bodega Be- servada, with its Napoleon III., Muscatel, and Fragrant Tie Pepe Wines—The Blending CeUar, Cask-steaming Apparatus,and Distillery .—Bailway Incline—Other Bodegas of the Firm at Puerto de Santa Maria, San Lucar, SeviUe, and MontiUa—Senor Domecq's Bodegas- Steaming and Gauging the Casks—The Cooperage—Fine Amontillado and Oloroso—The Famous Napoleon Wine, and its Christening by Marshal Soult—Other Bemarkahle Wines—Seiior Domecq's Criaderas —The Bodegas of Vergara, Bohertson,and Co.—Visit paid to them by Ferdinand VII.—Superior AViucs of the old Jerezano Type . . 63 YII.—The Bodegas in the old Mooeish Quaetee of Jeeez.