394 corPEE. 



business thoroughly, and have a reputation for honesty and relia- 

 bility. 



The range of prices here is extraordinary : one of the largest 

 shippers in Jerez assured me that during the past season he had 

 shipped wine ranging from £16 sterling up to £200 per butt of 

 118 gallons, the greater part of his business ranging, however, be- 

 tween £30 and £60 per butt. 



Al l sherry is more or less sweetened before shipment by the 

 admixture of a little " dulce " or sweet wine, which is made from a 

 different variety of grape — the Pedro Jimenez — which is cultiva- 

 ted for this purpose. While some dealers both in England and 

 the United States pretend to, sell natrural dry sherry, I ventiire 

 the assertion that they either misrepresent or are mistaken ; the 

 finest solera wines — and I tasted some valued at £300 sterling per 

 butt and upward — are nathrally so dry that they are unpalatable 

 even to those who are fond of the " driest " wine ; and two ship- 

 pers told me that although they frequently received orders for dry- 

 natural wine — the driest they had — their experience in having 

 wines rejected for this cause had taught them that a slight blend 

 of dulce was necessary to insure satisfaction to their customers. 



A large portion of the sherry shipped from Jerez is also 

 colored. This is done by adding a trifle of " vino de color," a 

 very dark, heavy wine made by boiling unfermented "must" 

 down to one-fifth of its original volume, producing a heavy, 

 brown, bitterish syrup ("arope" or "arrope"), which is again diluted 

 with new wine to a somewhat thinner consistency, after which it 

 is stored away in butts to attain age before being used to deepen 

 the color of the paler -wines as above stated. ITatural sherry, as 

 seen in the Jerez bodegas, is quite a different article from that 

 commonly sold ; it is (with the exception of the old wines, which 

 gradually acquire color from the cask) nearly as white as a Khine 

 wine ; and, although possessing a more aromatic flavor, is equally 

 dry. 



I suppose that a description of the titillations of my palate by 

 the rare old vintages of Jerez would scarcely be sufficiently inter- 

 esting to the reader to justify my describing them in extenso. I 

 have endeavored rather to give facts of interest to the trade than 

 to touch upon the points which are usually most prominent in a 



