A history and description of modern wine - Tapa blanda

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1851 Excerpt: ...Xeres into Sherris, and finally into Sherry. This triangle encloses a space measuring about twelve miles on each side. The vineyards which produce wine for the English market cover eighty thousand acres. Upwards of four hundred thousand pipes are made of all kinds, including those which are exported, and such as are consumed in the district. There is a great gradation in the prices of sherry, for though the average is not above thirty-five pounds the butt, the charges are from fifteen up to sixty-five pounds. The value of the sherries exported is calculated at four hundred and fifty thousand pounds. There are no export duties. The manufacture of the sherries takes place under the care of the agents or principals of foreign houses, who reside on the spot, and this is the reason of the improvement of late years in the wines of Xeres. The vineyards are principally on slopes or declivities. The grapes are left to hang until they begin to shrivel in the sun. The fruit is white, oneeighth being generally the Pedro Ximenes grape, mixed with other varieties. In those at Malaga and Grenada, one-half of the Pedro Ximenes grape is used in the vineyards, at Motril four-fifths, and at Paxarete one-fourth. The Temprana is used largely at St. Lucar, at Xeres, and at Port St. Mary. It is adopted in the Paxarete, Ximenes, Muscat, and Tintifia wines. The grapes are sometimes exposed to the sun on mats for a day or two after they are gathered. They are turned and sorted carefully for the better wines. The vines, planted about five feet asunder, are carefully dug round immediately after the vintage, and little hollows are left by some growers round the roots to retain the moisture. In January, or soon after, they turn up the mould, and carefully weed the ground. The pruning ta...