1876 Facts About Sherry by Henry Vizetelly

Tlie Mantilla Wines.

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gradually steeper and steeper, but over -wbicb tbe plough bad nevertheless recently passed,leaving no track -whatever for us to follo-w. The -vines -were merely so many gnarled and blackened stumps, having already undergone their autumnal pruning, -while many had trenches round them to receive the autumn rains. The finer soils are albariza, though not of the same extreme -whiteness as in the Jerez district. Two species of vines predominate—^the Pedro Jimenez and the baladi, the former being much more prevalent than the latter. All the finer vine yards have their casas -with the requisite conveniences for press ing the grapes,the same as the vineyards around Jerez. The old cumbersome beam-press,howevei-,is almost universally used. The system of vinification in the Montilla district is as follows:—The Pedro Jimenez grapes, which ripen the earhest, are gathered from two to three weeks before the others, and carried in tall vase-shaped baskets called cestos, each holding upwardsof601bs.,tothestonelagares, where they aretrodden and pressed,usually -without anyadmixture of gypsum. The pressing finished,the mosto is emptied into those vast earthenware jars called tinajas of which we have already spoken—the largest of which -will hold nearly400 gallons of mosto. Whenthesejars— which are sunk some five feet into the ground,and pro-vided with steps to enable the men to fill and empty them conveniently— are about two-thirds full,the mosto is left toferment,the mouth of the jar remaining uncovered while fermentation is going on. In a fortnight or three weeks' time the jars are filled up -with the must restdting from the pressure of the baladi grapes—a coarser species ripening later than the Pedro Jimenez. A second fermentation of course follows,and when its more violent character has subsided the mouths of the jars are covered with wooden lids, and the mosto is left until the early spring. On being removed from the jars it is placed in pallejos—i.e., thoroughly-seasoned goatskins—or else in small casks,both of which are slung across the backs of mules,and in this way the -wine is conveyed to the Montilla bodegas, where it is at once emptied into ordinary casks. The -vintagers receive 5 reals or a