58 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 



Sherry wines, and there are some points on which I have 

 not been able to satisfy myself. You know we no sooner 

 had the practice of returning the scum upon the wine, by 

 means of a funnel, pointed out to us by Mr. Domecq, 

 than we condemned it. It has occurred to me, that after 

 all, it may in most cases be the best thing they could do. 

 It is the saccharine principle that is undoubtedly most 

 abundant in the grapes of these climates, and the imper- 

 fect fermentation which takes place in a butt, may 

 require to be carried forward by the addition of the 

 yeast, which, were it not for the funnel, would escape. 

 I think Cormack used the expression, that it was to feed 

 the wine that the scum was returned ; in this I have no 

 doubt he was correct. On the other hand, it seems to be 

 agreed that a good deal of the Sherry, even of the alba- 

 rizas, turns sour. This might undoubtedly be prevented 

 by a contrary arrangement to the above. I think Domecq 

 said, that sometimes 100 butts of the Machar Nudo wine 

 would turn sour in one season. I wish you would ask 

 him whether there has been an instance of any of his wine 

 turning sour since he adopted the practice of allowing the 

 scum to escape. Perhaps there are particular kinds of 

 grapes in the vineyard which yield a wine without body. 

 Perhaps particular parts of the soil do not bring the 

 grapes to perfection. You will see from Chaptal what a 

 difference there frequently exists in France in the value 

 of the produce of two sides of the same hill. It was a 

 question I always forgot, or neglected to put at Xeres, 

 whether the difference of exposure was found to affect 

 the quality of the wine. I suspect all these things have 

 been overlooked. 



" When I saw the state of the grapes which Domecq 

 was pressing, and which seemed, in fact, no worse than 



