622 J luinial of Agriciiltiirc . [ii Oct., 1909. 



numeral. We will suppose that tliis solera has been in working order for 

 a good many years. Withdrawals of finished wine are made from stage 

 I., whilst additions of young wine are made to stage V.* When it is 

 desired to withdraw the finished wine, this is syphoned out of each butt of 

 the final stage (No. I.), care being taken to disturb neither surface film 

 nor lees. The quantit\ taken is limited to one quarter of the contents 

 of each butt at any one time. The usual capacity of each butt is about 115 

 gallons, but as they are always ullaged they would contain, on an aver- 

 age, about 100 gallons of wine. Twenty-five gallons having been with- 

 drawn from each butt of .stage L, the void is made good from stage II., 

 an equal quantity of wine (25 gallons) being withdrawn from each butt 

 for the purpo.se. Stage II. is replenished in like manner from stage III., 

 this in turn receives its quota from stage IV., which is replenished from 

 stage v., the youngest in this particular solera. Stage V. is replenished, 

 either with young wine or with wine of one or more years old which has 

 l>een kept as an anada. Two withdrawals are made from the final .stage 

 during the year, at each of wliich the wine is moved forward throughout 

 the whole svstem. 



DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE A SOLERA. 



Without going into elatorate calculations it is easy to understand what 

 an extremely complex blend the wine withdrawn from stage I. must neces- 

 sarily be. No portion of the final blend could consist of wine of less 

 than 5^ years' old, whilst the average age would loe still greater for it 

 would contain portions of every wine which had ever gone into the solera 

 since its first establishment. 



The efficiencv of such a svstem in order to secure the production of 

 an even type of wine, year in and year out. is obvious. The svstem 

 is \erv widelv applied in the Jerez bodegas. All wines except those few 

 which are kept as anadas and some other exceptional ones, are reared 

 in soleras; nor is the s\ stem confined to wine, for brandy (Cognac 

 Jerezano, as it is termed) and vinegar are treated on exactly similar lines. 



Our illustration has been designed in order to help to explain the 

 system, for which rea.son the butts have been placed in methodical order. 

 In reality, the different stages may be distributed in any manner which 

 mav suit the convenience of the cellar manager and not arranged in any 

 definite order as has been necessary in a explanatory diagram. Each 

 butt liears such marks and numbers as may best fncilitate its identifica- 

 tion and that of the stage and solera to which it belongs. 



It is not alone in order to secure uniformitv, however, that this com- 

 plex method has been evolved. Its greatest advantage, and the proliable 

 reason for its first adoption, is that it renders possible the utilization of 



* When this solera was first est;il)lishod rach stage re)iresentcd a particular viiitajre, but v\itli cnntimnl 

 lileiidiii^ these have long since lost tlicir priiiiitive sisrnificance. 



