336 



WILD SPAIN. 



qfucras will produce.* It is a curious fact that these sandy 

 soils never yield, even phenomenally, a cask of fine ^Yine. 

 These better wines require years of keepmg to attain the 

 perfect development of maturity, while the others, being of 

 a lighter description, are as good at first as they ever will 

 be, although in appearance and flavour the grapes of the 

 sandy soil may even seem the best. These facts serve to 

 explain the diiierence in cost which must exist between 

 the produce of the two classes of vine3'ard. 



So much for the wines of Jerez ; but sherry, though in 



A VINEYARD AT JEREZ. 



British eyes it looms the largest amongst the wines of 

 Spain, and is, in fact, of the greatest intrinsic value, yet 

 represents a mere drop in the ocean as compared with the 

 whole produce of the land. Spain overflows with wine. 

 Hardly a village but has its vineyards and its vintage-time, 

 when the very earth becomes encarnadined, and when the 

 chief care of the peasantry is rather to find casks, goat- 



* Dr. Henderson makes a contrary statement in his " History of 

 Ancient and Modern Wines," p. 190 (London, 1824) ; but this we 

 ima<?ine mnst be attributed to a slip of the pen, and is, in any case, 

 erroneous. 



