1876 Facts About Sherry by Henry Vizetelly

The Wines ofJerez—Blending Sherryfor Shipment. 51

imparting a pleasant air to tliese liuge ■wine-stores and their immediate suiTOundings. The Cosens hodegas, which have considerable architectural pretensions, are actually installed, as it were, in a large garden, whose palms and pines, pimiento, oleander, olive, andorange-trees, obscure anythinghke a complete view of these structures. They occupy three sides of this garden, the principal ones, a trio of lofty buildings parallel to each other —their high-pitched roofs supported by graceful stone columns with elegantly-carved capitals—being on our right hand after we have passed through the entrance gateway. Immediately in front of them is a wide colonnade stacked ■with casks seasoning with water. The nearest bodega is the one where the younger ■wines are stored. Here we see casks of wine being raised to the upper tiers by means of a movable iron crane—^the only one to be found in the Jerez bodegas—instead of by the laborious, hazardous, and even dangerous method of a slanting tramway and ropes, in common use. Hear by is the shipping bodega, where we find the butts in which the wine is about to be blended arranged all ready in rows. Our attention is first called to the slate containing instructions for the head cellarman, and from which we see that the blend includes four varieties, and these of the very best. Here, too, figures the brandwhich-will be burned into the head of each cask, the shipping mark which "will be cut into it near the bung, the number of butts, and, finally, the class and quantities of the respective -wines of which the blend is to be composed. These include— Amontillado pasado, 1820 . 7 arrobas. Double palma (amontUlado type), 1869 . . . . 10 „ Single palma (fino) 12J „ Pedro Jimenez (vino dulce of the highest class) . . i „ The "wines being dra-wn from what are termed soleras on finings ■will have had their spirit added to them at the time they were fined. Owing to their age and superior quahty, this, we were assured, would be equivalent to no more than a quarter, or at the utmost one-third, of an arroba to the butt of thirty arrobas. The alcohohc strength of a blended -wine of this class will indi-