1876 Facts About Sherry by Henry Vizetelly

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Facts about Sherry.

VI.—The Assumed Unwholesomeness op Shebey. The Careful Eearing, which the Jerez Wines TJndergo—The Great Age they Attain—The Blending of Sherry an Artistic Operation—The Late Outcry Against the Wine—Highly-coloured Statements put forward and the motives which prompted them—Kefutation of the Attacks—Gj-psum in Burton Beer — Scientific Investigation of the Plastering of Wine in Prance—It is declared to he Innocuous—Presh Investigations on the part of the Preneh Government with a like result—The Sulphuring of Wines—Opinion of the Vienna Jury upon the point. IHAVE described tbe treatment ■wbicb the Jerez wines expe rience while progressing towards maturity. Of the amount of attention bestowed upon the finer varieties in the earlier stages of their growth few have any correct idea. A mother scarcely tends her offspring with greater watchfulness and care. Plenty of air, a certain amount of light, and an equable tempera ture are all considered essential to their proper development, which goes on slowly, and by no means with invariable results. Often, before being considered fit to replenish a solera, the wines will pass through no fewer than four criaderas, which are really so many soleras at an earlier stage. During this period of probation their growth is most carefully watched. Arrived at four or five years of age, the wines may be drunk, but in justice to them they ought to be bejpt until they have attained their twelfth year; for not until then can they be had in high perfection—that is to say, delicate, with ample vinosity; full, with an unctuous limpidity ; soft, yet richly aromatic, and at the same time perfectly free from that high pungent flavour which they acquire with length of years. The very finest growths will have had their 1 per cent, of spirit added to them when first drawn off the lees, and should they turn out grand wines they will rarely receivemore; still,by thegradual evaporation of their watery particles, they will eventually develop as much as 34 per cent, of proof spirit, which will scarcely vary over a course of years. How longa robust Jerez wine wiU live,preserving within