1876 Facts About Sherry by Henry Vizetelly

The Wines ofJerez—Blending Sherryfor Shipment, 53

room, ■where it is inspected, tasted, and compared•with the sample of a pre'yious shipment; and then instructions are given either for some alteration in the blend or for adding the deficient arroba and a half of palma. The •wine being perfectly bright and ready for shipment, the butts are filledup completely to thebung- holes, and the wooden bungs driven tightly in so as to force any leaJrage arising from •worm-holes in the casks to sho^w itself. The butts have no^w to be marked and branded, after •which they •will be sent off by the circular raU^way connecting the principal bodegas of Jerez •with the Trocadero mole, near Cadiz. The blendingcompleted, we proceeded to the principal bodega to taste some of themore remarkable soleras of •the firm,thirteen of which, finos of singular delicacy and fragrance, and comprising an aggregate of 1,000 butts, were submitted to our inspection. We were also shown some fine amontillados- of great age and ripeness, and remarkable softness of flavour; olorosos of ample roxmdness and aroma; •with quite a collection of pasados, belonging to the first half of the present century, and including the years 1820, 1826, 1832, and 1887, together with Pedro Jimenez of almost fabulous antiquity—•wines with pedigrees dating backwards for upwards of a hundred years, and the mby brightness of whose tint, and rich liqueur-like flavour and con sistency, time had enhanced rather than impaired. One of these •wines, which was already so highly prized at the time of the French invasion that its o-wner buried it underground, had become highly concentrated, andwas given to us to taste indrops. When dra^wing sherry from the butt in the bodega for the purpose of tasting it an instrument termed a venencia is used. This is occasionally made in a somewhat rude fashionaltogether of cane, but more generally consists of a long narrow silver receptacle attached to the end of a whalebone stick nearly three feet in length, and having a kind of handle at the oppo site end to prevent it from accidentally slipping through the bung-hole into the butt when being -wielded by an inexperienced hand. The operation, although it seems exceedingly simple, is one in fact requiring considerable skiU. The arumbador, having