OF XERES, AND THEIR PRODUCE. 27 



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 fermentation, instead of return- 

 ing it by the funnel upon the wine, I did not inquire. 

 Perhaps it may be owing to the grapes of part of the 

 vineyard being of an inferior quality, or there may be 

 something in the soil or exposure which prevents their 

 attaining perfection. Mr. Domecq said, that there are 

 very few of the grapes which are good, even in the alba- 

 riza vineyards, and that the finest sherries are produced 

 from two or three varieties 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, the most prevailing 

 defect 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 fer- 

 mentation is suppressed by the smallness of the vessel in 

 which it takes place; and until the original principles of 

 the must, which remain undecomposed, are separated by 

 subsequent repeated rackings, or changed, after a great 

 length of time, into alcohol, they are always liable to rise 

 through the wine, and produce this scuddiness. It is 

 probable, also, that the absorption of the tartaric acid 

 which the grapes may contain, by the use of gypsum, 

 may be a still further hinderance to the fermentation. 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 appear ; and, considering, the general richness of the 

 grapes of this country in saccharine matter, there would 

 be as little danger of acidity if the casks were thoroughly 



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