II Oct., 1909.] Sherry : Its Making and Rearing. 625 



The system permits of maintaining a very even standard notwithstanding 

 a variable output. Should the demand for the wine of a given solera 

 become more active, the wine.> of earlier stages are pushed forward more 

 rapidlv. When the trade is dull their progress is slower. Sometimes the 

 number of stages mav be increased or diminished according as trade 

 is slack or brisk. There is no absolute rule and each cellar manager 

 deals with his soleras according as he thinks best, or as the demands of 

 trade may dictate. 



Some soleras consist of only a few stages, sa\ five, such as the one 

 represented in the diagram or even less, others, again, may number as many 

 as thirteen or fourteen. There is no rule or limit. With the rate of 

 progression of the wine, likewise. The maie usual way is for two with- 

 drawals a year to be made, each consisting ci one-fourth of the contents 

 of each butt of the final stage. The ensuing replenishments cause the 

 annual moving forward of one-half of the contents of every butt through- 

 out the whole series. In some bodegas the progression is made four times 

 a year, one-eighth of the contents of the individual butts going forw^ard 

 at each operation. These are matters of detail to be decided bv the 

 manager of the bodega. 



It occasionally happens that wine is withdrawn, for sale, from dif- 

 ferent .stages of a solera, the value being determined by the stage from 

 which it was drawn. Such procedure is by no means general, nor is it 

 considered good policv. The best managers adhere to the rule of only 

 withdrawing from the final .stage. It thus follows that, in the best 

 bodegas, any given solera is entirelv devoted to the production of one, 

 strictly limited type of wdne, which is the wine to be found in the final 

 stage of that particular solera. The number of different soleras to be 

 found in any of the larger bodegas is thus verv numerous. Some produce 

 very expensive wines; others, cheaper wines, but each solera .should turn 

 out one class of wine and one only. 



Names of Sheeries. 



Sherries are thus known by the name of the solera from which they 

 are drawn and in which they have been reared, rather than by that of 

 a vineyard (vintage is quite out of the question) as is usual with other 

 wines. The names given to Sherries are usuallv arbitrary and some- 

 times very fanciful. We have seen (p. 516) that Sherries can be divided 

 into several main types — Fino, oloroso, amontillado, &c. Each type can 

 in turn, include many soleras. To take the wines of two of the lead- 

 ing firms, we find such names as Tio Pepe (Uncle Joe), Amorosa. Tula 

 (name of a vineyard). Matusalem (an allusion to its great age). A.B.. 

 N.T., &c., figuring in the usual trade reports. 



Practically the totality of the best wines are solera wines — cheaper 

 sorts are blends of these with wines of neighbouring localities. 



Solera or Criadera. 



Hitherto, for simplicity's sake, we have confined ourselves to the 

 former of the above terms. The second, which is of constant occurrence 

 in Jerez, must now be explained. The two expressions are, at least at 

 the present day, to some extent synonymous, although not entirelv so. 

 In former times, the term Criadera was applied to the earlier stages of 

 the series in which the wine is reared. It is, in reality, the more logical 

 term of the two, meaning, as it does, a breeding or rearing place, whereas 

 solera means the last or lowest row of the series — the final stage which 



