1891 Drinks à La Mode by Mrs de Salis

WINES AND SPIRITS

73

agreeable taste of the stalks. The casks being full are left unbunged for about a week, the bung- hole being in the meantime covered with a brick or piece of wood. They are filled up every two days, and after bunging, at least once a week, till the wine is in a state to allow the cask to rest with the bung-hole at the side, which is not till after a year and a half White wines are made in a somewhat different manner. The grapes are not, as in red wine, put into the vat to ferment, but after the removal of the stalks they are trodden, and when taken from the press the juice, skins, and seeds are put into casks, in which the fermentation takes place and wine is formed. When the fermentation has ceased the wine is racked off from the barrels into smaller casks, and any loss that subsequently occurs from evaporation must be replaced once or twice a week. Treading the grapes still prevails in many countries, but it is being gradually displaced by various mechanical appliances. In some parts of France two wooden cylinders turning in opposite directions are employed to crush the fruit. Sherry. The best white wines are grown in the southern districts of San Lucar and Xeres de la Frontera, in the province of Seville. The driest sherry is Amontillado, which is remarkable for its delicacy and high flavour. Montilla is grown near Cordova, and Manzanilla is another fine sherry, x^ll these are fine dry, pure wines. Madeira is the produce of the island of that name.