1914 Beverages de luxe

house the juice (Mosto) is pumped into large casks, which are carried on bullock carts, generally at night, to the Bodegas (large stone overground cellars) at Jerez de la Frontera, Port St. Mary, or Sanlucar. Here the Mosto goes through the pro- cess of fermentation, where the saccharine matter is changed to alcohol and carbonic acid gas, the latter going free, while the alcoholic strength increases in the Mosto, until it reaches the point where it kills further fermentation, leaving some sac- charine unfermented, or where all the saccharine has been transformed. The wine is then drawn off, and is aged like other wines, but, unlike other wines, which are kept in dark under- ground cellars, the Spanish Bodegas are large stone buildings, with many windows and openings, giving plenty of light anti sun.shine and a free circulation of air. Sherry is now used in medicinal compounds, in combina- tion, more than any other wine ; but why lessen its strength- giving powers by combination? The fact that from the time the grapes are ripened on the high sunny hills until the wine is bottled, Sherry is always surrounded by pure air and sunshine, should be considered by the medical iirofession, and the strengthening powers of old Amontillado should be more widely known and appreciated. The longevity of the inhabitants of Andalucia is well known. There is an old tale of an Archbishop of Seville who lived to be one hundred and twenty-five years old, and always drank half a bottle of Amontillado at dinner; but on the days he was not feeling just I'ight, he braced up with two bottles. There are a number of varieties of white grajies used in making Sherry, and con.sequently a number of ditt'erent styles of Sherry ; but Sherry is classified under two grand divisions Plnos and Jerezanos. Finos are the pale, Jerezanos the darker wines. Finos are sub-divided into Vino de Pasto, Palo Cortado, Palma and Anion tillado. Jerezanos are sub-divided into I. Raya, II. Raya. III. Raya. I. Raya's are aged and become Oloroso iir Amoroso. II. Raya's and III. Raya's are either mixed with the cheap wines of the plains or distilled. This classification is made by the Almacenista (the mer- chant who buys from the grower and ages Sherry, keeping the vintages separate as Anadas), or by his Cai)ataz (head cellar man), and it must be made correctly, or the consequent loss may be enormous. The difficulty can be somewhat imagined when one understands that two Bodega Butts, lying side be- side, containing wines from the same vintage, will develop dif- ferently; one will be Fino, the other Jerezano. This phenomenon cannot be explained, but it is a fact.