434 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



greatest care from the commencement. They 

 were now twenty-five years of age ; ilie branches 

 were so well arranged that they balanced each 

 niher upon the slock ; and (ew pro|)s were there- 

 fore required, liic height of the stock being liom 

 16 to 20 inches. Where, from the weight of li"uit, 

 a prop was required, it cont^isted of a piece of 

 c;nie, with a fork cut in the end of it, and in this 

 lurk I he branch rested. A small spot in the vine- 

 yard had been newly planted ; he said the ground 

 had been trenched to the depih of a vara, or a vara 

 and a quarter. These vines were only manured 

 once in lour or five years; the reason of this, he 

 said, was that the ground was not so cold as the 

 albarizas, and did not require it oftener. 



As the grapes were coliected, they were spread 

 out on large mats in the sun's rays. This is very 

 commonly ihe practice in ordinary seasons ; but 

 owing to the late lieavy rains coming upon the 

 grapes when the most of them are fully ripe, they 

 are in general hastening on the vintage this eea- 

 fon without attending to it. The vinadur said 

 t hey would be put in the press to-night, and pressed 

 next morning. 



Mr. Cormack says, that this vineyard produces 

 only the common wine of the country, and liom 

 the way it was cultivated he was sure it must yield 

 6 or 7 bulls an acre, but he understood ihat a large 

 portion of the grapes were sent to the market. 

 The arenas, in general, he says, yield from 4 to 6 

 butts a Spanish acre, which is worth, on being 

 made, al)out 22 pesos of 15 reals each. Thus, 5 

 butts will amount lo 82| Spanish dollars, which is 

 equal lo about £17 10s. (^83 12) per aranzada, 

 or £18 10s. (^87 87) per English acre. This 

 vineyard, he inlbrrned me, was worth 300 dollars 

 per aranzada, or about £66 ($313 50) an English 

 acre. The albariza vineyards yield, on an average, 

 from 2^ lo 3 bulls per aranzada, which is worih, in- 

 cluding the agva pies, this year, (October, 1831,) 

 38 pesos per buii ; 2| butts amount, therefore, to 

 £16 13s. 9d. ($79 32,) or about £17 10s. per 

 English acre. Mr. Domecq's vineyard was some 

 lime ago valued at 40,000 Spanish dollars. Theex- 

 l>>.nt bemg 191 English acres, and the buildings at 

 ihat lime worth 3,000 or 4,000 dollars, the value of 

 the whole will appear to be £7,756 Ss., or about 

 £40 12s. ($193 81) per English acre, the average 

 produce being about 800 bulls. This, at 38 pesos, 

 will amount lo £4,275 ($20,306) lor the value ol 

 one year's produce of the whole, or £22 73. 

 ($106) per acre. The expenses of cultivation 

 are ei.ued by Mr. Cormack lo be from 50 lo 60 

 dollars per aranzada, and this also agrees pretty 

 neaKly wiili Mr. Domecq's statement. It there- 

 lore apjiears that the profit upon an acie of the 

 arenas will be atiout £7 10s. ($35 62 ;) upon 

 I he ordinary albariza, £5 ISs. 9d. ($27 ;) on Mr. 

 Domecq's £ll7d. ($51.) J am inclined to think 

 that ihis esiiraate is pretty correct, as it applies 

 to the arenas, but is probably underrated in the 

 albarizas generally, and overrated in Mr. Do- 

 mecq's. 



The whole extent of il)e Xeres' vineyar<j3, 

 which produce wine fit for the English market, 

 does not exceed 7,000 acres, and about double that 

 extent will also include those of Port Saint Mary's 

 and San Lucar. A great portion of the wines 

 exported to England under the name of sherry, 

 Rre Ihe growth of Malaga, end are brought round 

 and transhipped at Cadiz. 51ost of the tharries 



sold by retail in England, under 40s. a dozen, are 

 eitlier of this kmd or of Ihe commonest qualities 

 of the San Lucar and Port Saint Mary's vine- 

 yards. The whole quantity of sherry annually 

 exported from Xeres, docs not exceed 25,000 

 butts. In no case do ihe exporters send a genu- 

 ine natural wine ; Ihat is, a wine as it comes from 

 the press, without a mixture of other qualities. 

 It is rather a singular circumstance thai the sale 

 of Ihe produce of ihe common vineyards is more 

 ready and certain than of that fit for exportation. 

 The latter is all purchased up by a lew indivi- 

 duals, and held by them till it is taken off by the 

 gradual denumd. The stock is equal lo many 

 years' consumption, and some of the holders are 

 said to possess stocks to the amount of a million 

 dollars. No wine is allowed by law to be sold lor 

 consumption till it is twelve months old. The pro- 

 duce of the arenas is much greater than of the al- 

 barizas, but a greater quantity of it turns sour. The 

 very dry wine called Amontillado, is generall}' said 

 to be produced in a way which no man can account 

 for, as it is not possible to say beforehand whe- 

 ther the wine, when fermenting, will turn out 

 sherry or Amontillado. If so, it is probably the 

 result of a more perfect fermenialion ; indeed, Mr, 

 Domecq agreed with me in this opinion. Ratiiel 

 Torda, a Spanish writer on wines, says that it is 

 the produce of a particular grape, the /xj/omj'na. 

 Alihough the Manzanilla and common wine of 

 the country are more apt to turn sour than the sher- 

 r}', the latter is also occasionally subject to that 

 degeneration. Mr. Domecq said, that as many 

 as 100 butts of the Machar Nudo had turned sour 

 in one season; whether after the adoption of the 

 plan of allowing the scum to escape during the fer- 

 mentation, instead of returning it by liie (unne! 

 upon the wine, I did not inquire. Perhaps it 

 may be owing lo the grapes of part of the vine- 

 yard being of an inferior quality, or there may 

 be something in the soil or exposure which pre- 

 vents their attaining perlection. JM r. Domecq said, 

 that there are very lew of the grapes which are 

 good, even in the albariza vineyards, and ihat the 

 finest sherries are produced from two or three va- 

 rieties which are rather scarce; of one variety 

 he found great difficulty in procuring cuttings^ 

 there not being more than two acres of it in the 

 district of Xeres. Scuddiness is, however, Ihe most 

 prevailing delect in the sherry wines, and it is 

 worth consideration whether this is not owing 

 to imperfect fermentation. We tasted wine in Mr. 

 Domecq's cellar which was quite sweet, although 

 three weeks old. The violence of the first fermen- 

 tation is suppressed by the smallness of the ves- 

 sel in which it lakes place ; and until the original 

 principles of Ihe viusi, which remain undtcom- 

 posed, are separated by subsequent repealed rack- 

 ings, or changed, after a great length of time, into 

 alcohol, they are always liable to rise ihrougli the 

 wine, and produce ihis scuddiness. It is probable, 

 also, that the absorption of the tartaric acid which 

 the grape may contain, by the use of gypsum, 

 may be a still further hinderance lo the fermenta- 

 tion. On the whole, I think there can be no 

 doubt that were the fermentation completed in 

 large vessels, and the wine subsequently racked 

 off into casks, this scuddiness would never ap- 

 pear ; and, considering the general richness of the 

 grapes of this country in saccharine matter, there 

 would be ae little danger ol' acidity )^ the casks 



