1876 Facts About Sherry by Henry Vizetelly

Tlie Bodegas in the old Moorish Quarter of Jerez. 67

circular structure -witli a sloping metal roof devoted to tte same object and holding some five or six bundred butts of wine. The next building we visit is the Bodega de la Union,the contents of which continually vary, and where at present wines of various descriptions—dry,sweet, and"color"—with mosto of last year from the Eomano and A.B.vineyards, are stored. To the left is the Salon annexe,containing about 300 butts of mosto vintaged quite recently,while tothe rightis another annexe,known as Los Apostoles,and so named from twelve huge casks containing pale, gold, and amber-coloured sherries, fino, amontillado, oloroso, Pedro Jimenez, and muscatel. These casks hold 1,420 gallons each, and are ranged in rows of six on either side of a gigantic tun of 3,500 gallons, carved over with bunches of grapes and vine-leaves, evidently of German origin, and recalling those famous examples ofthe cooper's art occasionally met with in the mediaeval cellars of the Fatherland. Although of fine character, none of the wine in these monster receptacles equals in interest that contained in some venerable butts, perfectly black with age, which,ranged in tiers in a corner of the same cellar, are known as the Parte Arroyo, after a widow of that name, from whom they were purchased many years ago. She was bent on retiring from business, and demanded <£10,000 in gold for the contents of her cellar, which, however,she resolutely refused to open for inspection until she had the money in hand. Senor Gonzalez boldly accepted this blind bargain,paid the price,and received the key of the bodega,which was found to contain one hundred butts of very fine old wine, worth far more than the price demanded, a, comparatively small number of these butts now remain. Crossing the road running in front of the Union Bodega we enter another of these light and lofty wine-stores with rows of portly butts ranged in seemingly endless succession,known as the Constancia, where the fine old wines from the Eomano vineyard, purchased from the family of this name,are stored in soleras of four tiers. The Eomano is a full-bodied wine, soft in flavour and invariably deep in colour, arising partly from the admixture of Pedro Jimenez grapes, and partly because none