Generally.—The French give the name vins de liqueur, liqueur wines, to sweet wines, and it is also sometimes applied to fortified dry wines. Sweet wines are those which, after terminating their active fermentation, still retain a quantity of sugar. In order to produce natural sweet wines, it is necessary that the must should contain a large amount of sugar; Boireau says, from 16° to 25° Baumé, or about 29 to 46 per cent. It would seem that the latter figure is too high for a natural sweet wine, for it probably would not ferment at all, and to make a wine from a must containing over 35 per cent. of sugar, the alcohol must be added. (See Musts.) He goes on to say that these wines will contain from 15 to 16 per cent. of natural alcohol, without addition; the sugar which they contain makes them heavier than water.

To Increase Sugar.—In order to augment the amount of sugar, the grapes are left on the vine till they become excessively ripe; in some places the stem of the bunch is twisted on the vine to interrupt the rising of the sap; the must is also sometimes concentrated by boiling; sometimes the grapes are picked and exposed to the sun on screens or straw mats, until they become shriveled, and sometimes they are dried in ovens.

Without Fermentation.—Sometimes sweet wines are made without allowing the must to ferment at all, by adding alcohol till it contains 18 or 20 per cent. of spirit; thus all the sugar is preserved. Again, they are made by mixing with dry wines grape syrup or concentrated must, and fortifying.

Care Required.—It has already been stated in the chapter on keeping wine that these wines require less care than weaker ones. But Mr. Boireau says that wines, whether sweet or dry, whose strength does not exceed 16 per cent., require the same care as ordinary wines.

In order that sweet and fortified wines may be kept in storehouses subject to great changes of temperature, in bottles upright, or in casks in ullage—in other words, under the conditions in which brandy can be kept, they must contain 18 or 20 per cent. of alcohol. They age sooner in casks than in bottles. (See Aging.)

Clarification of these wines is effected by fining or by filtering. The best finings for the purpose are those containing albumen, such as the whites of eggs, though fresh blood may be used, but only for the commoner wines. If they are very pasty, tannin should be added, and then they should be clarified with a strong dose of gelatine.

Small quantities of wine may be filtered through paper or flannel, in closed filters.

These wines should always be allowed to rest for a while, and then be racked before shipping, for it is rare that they do not make a deposit. (See Fining.)

Boiling Must.—Pellicot says that the common practice in making sweet wines, is to reduce the volume of the must by one-third, or even one-half, by boiling. They clear sooner, and retain less of the cooked flavor if only a part is boiled, that is, if, after boiling, one-fourth to one-third of the volume is added of must from the sweetest varieties of grapes. In this way the wines are more agreeable, and sooner matured. When the boiled must is taken from the cauldron, it must be briskly stirred with a bunch of twigs, or the like, till it ceases to smoke, in order to remove a disagreeable flavor which wines so made may contract. He gives it as his opinion that the greater part of the sweet wines, even of southern countries, are made by boiling the whole or a portion of the must, in spite of allegations to the contrary; and he considers it an innocent and legitimate operation, the only objection being the cooked flavor, which disappears with age. He excepts, however, wine made from very sweet varieties, which are ripened artificially. He also recommends that when kept in a large cask, the lees should not be removed, as they contain a good deal of sugar. As a certain quantity is drawn off, it may be filled each year with new wine of the same quality.

Sweet Muscat.—In making sweet Muscat, fermentation should be checked by the addition of alcohol, for if allowed to continue too long, the Muscat flavor will disappear. And this is usually necessary, as before stated, to keep the wines sweet.

Pressing.—Where the grapes are quite ripe, and somewhat dry, it may be difficult to extract the juice without a very powerful press; under such circumstances Machard recommends that, after crushing, the grapes be put into a vat for twenty-four or forty-eight hours, according to the temperature, and until fermentation commences, which fluidifies the must and makes it run more freely from the press.

The Marc of Sweet Wines is useful to mix with poor white wines to give them more sugar and more strength.

The amount of Alcohol to be added varies from two to five per cent., or more, depending upon the amount developed by fermentation, and the degree of sweetness desired. If the must is not allowed to ferment at all, it must be fortified up to 18 or 20 per cent.; if, however, it is so sweet that it will not ferment, it may be kept without the addition of alcohol, but it will be syrup, and not wine.

Density.—Dubief says that sweet wines should mark a density of from 4° to 5° Baumé, and the best of them even 7°.

Furmint Wine.—The following is the method given by Pellicot as practiced by him in making wine from the Furmint grape. He gathers the grapes when they are very ripe, and the small berries are half dried, and then exposes them to the rays of the sun for six or eight days, upon screens. When ready to crush, he takes the screens to the crusher. The dryest berries are then removed by shaking the frame, or with the hand, and put by themselves; and the remainder are crushed in the usual manner. Then the dry ones are crushed as well as possible, and the two kinds are mixed together and fermented. Owing to the syrupy nature of the must, it ferments for a long time, and without much effervescence. When it acquires a suitable flavor, it is drawn off, and is then racked several times till clear.

Where the grapes are trodden, it is probably necessary to separate the dry grapes from the rest, and crush them by themselves, in order that they may be well crushed; but if a good crusher is used, it would seem entirely unnecessary.

Straw Wines, according to Machard, are made as follows: The ripest bunches are chosen, and preferably from old vines. They are gathered when the weather is warm and dry. They are spread upon straw, or hung up in the upper room of a house. They are visited from time to time, and the rotten berries removed. They are thus left till February or March, the time when straw wine is usually made. Some, however, press in December, but the wine has not the quality of that made later.[4] When sufficiently dried the grapes are stemmed, and the remaining rotten berries are removed. They are then crushed and pressed. The pressings are all mixed together. To arrive at perfection, such a wine, he says, must be kept ten, twelve, or more years; that it need not be racked, nor the casks made full, and that it requires no fining.

PORT WINE.

The Musts of the port wine grapes grown in the Upper Douro, Portugal, show from 24 to 29 per cent. of sugar, according to the variety. There are others cultivated in the district which contain less sugar. The sweetest of all is the Bastardo. The fermentation takes place under cover, in what is called a lagar, which is a large stone vat, about three feet deep. According to Dr. Bleasdale, it is necessary to gather the grapes as soon as they are completely ripe; that the lagar or fermenting vat should be filled as promptly as possible; that the mass should be thoroughly stirred; that the fermentation should be tumultuous and uninterrupted, and that the wine should be drawn off when it has developed a vinous smell and flavor, and astringency and roughness to the taste, though all the sugar has not been fermented. The defective grapes are picked out, and only good ones put into the vat. As soon as the fermenting vat is filled, a sufficient number of men enter into it to complete the treading. Three men to each 120 gallons of must are employed, who with bare feet tread and dance upon the grapes. If fermentation is slow in starting, more men are put in to impart warmth, or a quantity of warm must is added. The first treading lasts, in the instance given by Dr. Bleasdale, six hours during the first night, and is continued next day with two men, where three were employed the first night. Men enter again during the active fermentation and tread to keep down the pomace, and to extract as much coloring matter as possible. Then the treaders leave the lagar, but the fermentation is closely watched.

The following graphic description, which differs in no essential respect from that of Dr. Bleasdale, is from Vizitelli:

“When the mid-day meal is over, the grapes having been already spread perfectly level in the lagar, a band of sixty men is told off to tread them. The casa dos lagares[5] is a long building with a low pointed roof, lighted with square openings along one side, and contains four lagares, in the largest of which sufficient grapes can be trodden at one time to produce thirty pipes of wine.[6] As is universally the case in the Upper Douro, these lagares are of stone, and about three feet in depth. In front of each, and on a lower level, is a small stone reservoir, called a dorno, into which the expressed juice flows after the treading of the grapes is concluded, and which communicates by pipes with the huge tonels[7] in the adega below, although not beneath the lagares, being in fact in the face of the reservoirs, but on a level some twelve feet lower, with a long, wooden staircase leading to it. In front of the lagares runs a narrow stone ledge, to which ascent is gained by a few steps, and here while the treading is going on the overseers post themselves, long staves in hand, in order to see that every one performs his share of labor. The treaders, with their white breeches well tucked up, mount into the lagar, where they form three separate rows of ten men each on either side of the huge, overhanging beam, and placing their arms on each other’s shoulders, commence work by raising and lowering their feet alternately, calling out as they do so, ‘Direita, esquerda!’ (Right, left!) varying this after a time with songs and shoutings in order to keep the weaker and lazier ones up to the work, which is quite as irksome and monotonous as either treadmill or prison crank, which tender-hearted philanthropists regard with so much horror. But the lagariros have something more than singing or shouting to encourage them. Taking part with them in the treading is a little band of musicians, with drum, fife, fiddle, and guitar, who strike up a lively tune, while their comrades chime in, some by whistling, others with castanets. Occasionally, too, nips of brandy are served out, and the overseers present cigarettes all round, whereupon the treaders vary their monotonous movements with a brisker measure. This first treading, the ‘sovar o vinho,’ or beating the wine, as it is called, lasts, with occasional respites and relays of fresh men, for eighteen hours. A long interval now ensues, and then the treading or beating is resumed. By this time the grapes are pretty well crushed, and walking over the pips and stalks strewn at the bottom of the lagar, becomes something like the pilgrimages of old, when the devout trudged wearily along with hard peas packed between the soles of their feet and the soles of their shoes. The lagariros, with their garments more or less bespattered with grape juice, move slowly about in their mauve-colored mucilaginous bath in a listless kind of way, now smoking cigarettes, now with their arms folded, or thrown behind their backs, or with their hands tucked in their waistcoat pockets, or raised up to their chins, while they support the elbow of the one arm with the hand of the other. The fiddle strikes up anew, the drum sounds, the fife squeaks, the guitar tinkles, and the overseers drowsily upbraid. But all to no purpose. Music has lost its inspiration, and authority its terrors, and the men, dead beat, raise one purple leg languidly after the other. In the still night time, with a few lanterns dimly lighting up the gloomy casa dos lagares, such a scene as I have here attempted to sketch has something almost weird about it. By the time the treading is completed, the violent fermentation of the must has commenced, and is left to follow its course.[8] Accordingly, as the grapes are moderately or overripe, and the atmospheric temperature is high or low, and it is intended that the wine shall be sweet or dry, this fermentation will be allowed to continue for a shorter or a longer period, varying from fifteen hours to several days, during which time the husks and stalks of the grapes, rising to the surface, form a thick incrustation. To ascertain the proper moment for drawing off the wine into tonels, recourse is usually had to the saccharometer, when, if this marks four or five degrees, the farmer knows that the wine will be sweet; if a smaller number of degrees are indicated, the wine will be moderately sweet, while zero signifies that the wine will be dry. Some farmers judge the state of the fermentation by the appearance of the wine on the conventional white porcelain saucer, and the vinous smell and flavor which it then exhibits. When it is ascertained that the wine is sufficiently fermented, it is at once run off into the large tonels, holding their 10 to 30 pipes each, the mosto extracted from the husks of the grapes by the application of the huge beam press being mixed with the expressed juice resulting from the treading. It is now that brandy—not poisonous Berlin potato spirit, but distilled from the juice of the grape—is added at the rate of 5½ to 11 gallons per pipe,[9] if it is desired that the wine should retain its sweetness. Should, however, the wine be already dry, the chances are that it will receive no spirit at all. The bungs are left out of the tonels till November, when they are tightly replaced, and the wine remains undisturbed until the cold weather sets in, usually during the month of December. By this time the wine has cleared and become of a dark purple hue. It is now drawn off its lees, and returned again to the tonel, when it receives about 5 gallons of brandy per pipe.[10] In the following March it will be racked into pipes preparatory to being sent down the Douro to the wine shippers’ lodges at Villa Nova de Gaia,” a suburb of Oporto.

These Lodges or Storehouses are large, one-story buildings above ground, dimly lighted through small windows, for Mr. Vizitelli informs us that it is considered that ports mature less perfectly when subject to the influence of the light. But like other fortified wines, exposure to the air is considered beneficial to them; and in racking, they are drawn off into a wooden pitcher holding about five gallons, and poured into the cask to be filled, coming freely in contact with the air.

All Wines of Similar Character are Blended together at the lodge, by mixing in large vats, sometimes stirred with a large fan operated by machinery. The blending is also performed in casks, by pouring into each one successively a certain number of gallons of each kind of wine, so that the contents of all the casks will be uniform. A small quantity of spirit is usually added at the time of cutting. After blending the wine is racked every three months, until in a condition for shipment, which may be in from fifteen to twenty-four months, according to quality.

Port loses its Color rapidly in Wood, and much of its fullness, and wines five years old cease to be regarded as shipping wines, and are then kept in store and used to give age and character to younger wines. It is then a valuable, old, mellow, and tawny wine, which the merchants of Oporto themselves drink.

Port Wine Contains from 18 to 23 per cent. of absolute Alcohol after fortifying, the amount of spirit added depending upon how much is developed by fermentation, and the amount of sugar in the grapes. It is customary to add a small amount whenever it is racked, and before shipping. The object of these frequent additions is to keep up the necessary strength, for a certain amount of alcohol is constantly evaporating while the wine is in casks, and it may fall below the required strength if these additions are not made.

Mr. Vizitelli has fallen into the error of stating that in dry climates wine becomes stronger by the evaporation of its watery parts; but this is impossible, for alcohol is more volatile than water, and whenever there is evaporation in a wine, it becomes weaker from the loss of alcohol; and whenever a wine gains strength by keeping, it is because the sugar contained in it has been transformed into alcohol, etc., by fermentation, as stated in other parts of this work.

MADEIRA.

Making.—In the island of Madeira it is the practice, according to Mr. Vizitelli, to tread the grapes thoroughly in a large, square wooden trough, or lagar, in which they are also pressed, as in sherry making. A great part of the juice is extracted by treading, being strained through a basket as it runs off into casks. After the grapes have been thoroughly trodden, the pomace is gathered together and piled in the centre of the lagar, and pressed and patted with the hands to extract the must, and this is repeated three times, and finally the pomace is again raised in a mound, wound with a rope, and pressed by means of a heavy beam suspended over the lagar. This primitive method, however, can have but little interest for the wine maker, as the essential practice in making Madeira, or rather in the aging of it, is the application of heat.

Casks, Treatment.—The must is fermented, the wine racked and heated, in casks holding 130 gallons. After heating, it is stored in casks holding about 400 gallons. It is fermented in these smaller casks with the bung open, simply covered by a leaf, till the month of November. Either before or after the fermentation, a small quantity of brandy is added, varying in quantity according to the quality of the must, but seldom exceeding three per cent. When the wine has well cleared, it is racked and lotted, according to quality, and forwarded to the heating house, or estufa.

Heating House, Heating.—One of these at Funchal, described by Vizitelli, consists of a block of buildings of two stories, divided into four compartments. “In the first of these, common wines are subjected to a temperature of 140°F., derived from flues heated with anthracite coal, for the space of three months. In the next compartment wines of an intermediate quality are heated up to 130° for a period of four and a half months, while the third is set apart for superior wines, heated variously from 110° to 120° for the term of six months. The fourth compartment, known as the ‘calor,’ possesses no flues, but derives its heat, varying from 90° to 100°, exclusively from the compartments adjacent; and here only high-classed wines are placed.” They receive a further addition of spirit, after leaving the estufa, varying in quantity from one to three gallons per cask, presumably to supply what has evaporated during the heating. Wines are also heated by exposing them to the rays of the sun in glass houses. In the day time a temperature of 120° to 130° is secured, which becomes considerably less during the night, which change is by many considered detrimental. Some again, put the casks out of doors in the full sunshine. In the estufas mentioned, the pipes are placed on end in stacks of four, with smaller casks on the top, a gangway being left between the different stacks. The casks are vented with a small hole during the process. Leaking is common during the exposure to so great a heat, and it is necessary to inspect the casks once during every day and once during the night.

Each compartment is provided with double doors, and after it is filled with wine, the inner door is plastered so as to stop all the cracks. In entering the estufa, only the outer door is opened, entrance through the inner one being made through a small door for the purpose. The man who examines the casks, coming out after a stay of an hour, drinks a tumblerful of wine, and cools off in a tight room provided for the purpose. From 10 to 15 per cent. of the wine is lost by evaporation while it remains in the heating house.

General Treatment—Alcoholic Strength.—The solera system is somewhat in vogue in Madeira, as in the sherry country. The practice also of leaving the casks in ullage prevails—a vacant space of ten or a dozen gallons is left. On the south side of the island 5 per cent. is the largest amount of alcohol added, and on the north side a little more, which is added at different times. Most Madeira is dry, or nearly so, and contains about 18 per cent. of alcohol on the average.

SHERRY.

Climate.—According to General Keyes, the climate of the sherry districts of Spain is a trifle warmer in winter and about the same in summer as that of Napa Valley. But the seasons are not so distinctly wet and dry as in California, and the grapes are sometimes rained on while growing, and are frequently wet while ripening. Neverthless, the south of Spain is a dry country.

The Vintage begins in the early part of September, at which time the grapes are ripe, but by no means overripe, but sweet and luscious. The grapes are picked in the early part of the day, and spread upon mats in the sun, where they remain till the evening of the same day, when they are crushed. General Keyes says that they are invariably crushed in the evening of the same day, but Mr. Vizitelli states that they remain on the straw mats from one to three days. As both write from observation, it would seem that the practice varies, the time of the exposure to the sun probably depending upon the degree of maturity when picked. The defective berries are carefully removed. The cool of the night for crushing is preferred to the heat of the day, and to avoid the precipitation of fermentation.

Crushing.—Mr. Vizitelli’s description is as follows: “The pressing commenced between seven and eight o’clock, and was accomplished in a detached building under a low tiled roof, but entirely open in front. Passing through the gateway, and stumbling in the dim light afforded by an occasional lamp fixed against the wall, over a rudely paved court-yard, we found ourselves beside a row of large, stout wooden troughs, some ten feet square and a couple of feet deep, raised about three feet from the ground, and known in the vernacular of the vineyards as lagares. The bottoms of these receptacles were already strewn with grapes, lightly sprinkled over with yeso (gypsum), which if spread over the whole of the bunches, would not have been greatly in excess of the amount of dust ordinarily gathered by a similar quantity of grapes conveyed in open baskets on the backs of mules from the vineyards to the pressing places in the towns. At Torre Breva, the sixty or more arrobas of grapes (1500 lbs.) required to make each butt of wine, were having from two to four pounds of yeso sprinkled over them, or about half the quantity which would be used in a moist season. I was assured that at last year’s vintage here not a single ounce of yeso was employed in the manufacture of upwards of 700 butts of wine. * * * Rising perpendicularly in the centre of each of the four lagares to a height of about seven feet, is a tolerably powerful screw, which is only brought into requisition after the grapes have been thoroughly trodden. A couple of swarthy, bare-legged pisadores leap into each lagar, and commence spreading out the bunches with wooden shovels; and soon the whole eight of them, in their short drawers, blue-striped shirts, little caps, red sashes, and hob-nailed shoes, are dancing a more or less lively measure, ankle-deep in newly-crushed grapes. They dance in couples, one on each side of the screw, performing certain rapid, pendulum-like movements which are supposed to have the virtue of expressing the juice more satisfactorily from the fruit than can be accomplished by mere mechanical means. Their saltatory evolutions ended, the trodden grapes are heaped up on one side and well patted about with the shovel, like so much newly mixed mortar. This causes the expressed juice to flow out in a dingy, brown, turgid stream through the spout fixed in front of the lagar, into a metal strainer, and thence into the vat placed beneath to receive it. Fresh grapes are now spread over the bottom of the lagar, and, after being duly danced upon, are shoveled on one side; and this kind of thing goes on until sufficient trodden murk has been accumulated to make what is called a pile.”

Pressing.—His description goes on to show that the treaders give place to the pressers, who, with wooden shovels, build up a mound of marc under the screw, conical in form, some five feet high, which is neatly dressed and trimmed, and then wound around with a straw rope or band, about four inches wide, from base to summit. A circular piece of wood is placed on the top, and the pressure is applied by means of the screw, the must passing through the interstices of the straw band.

Treading and pressing goes on nightly for fourteen hours, with occasional intervals for refreshment.

The wine from the press is invariably fermented separately from that of the first run during the treading.

All agree that the grapes are crushed without stemming, but it seems that the practice of pressing with the stems on is not uniform. General Keyes says that he made careful inquiry on this subject, and was informed that only a few of the larger stems were removed, while Mr. Vizitelli states that the sherry wine maker is so much afraid of tannin and roughness in the wine, that the stems are all removed before the pomace is pressed. This is not important, however, as the press wine is inferior, and is usually distilled.

It is almost a universal custom to sprinkle each pressing of grapes with two or three handfuls of gypsum, or from two to six pounds to a butt of wine of 130 gallons, and in wet seasons, even more. Gen. Keyes gives an instance of one wine maker who made several casks of sherry one year without the use of gypsum, and he found no material difference in the product, but he still follows the custom of the country. (See Plastering.)

Fermenting.—The must is run into casks of about 150 gallons capacity, which are filled only to within ten or fifteen gallons of their full capacity, and is left to ferment in a cool shed, or in a place separate from the storehouse or bodega; new wine is not fermented in the same room with the old.

As soon as the wine falls bright, which it does at any time from January to April, it is racked and placed in the bodega, with still a vacant space in the cask, and brandy is added equal to one or two per cent. to the stronger wines, and three or four per cent. to the commoner ones.

If the wine is deficient in sugar, it may clear by January, but if rich, it may not become bright till April. During the active fermentation, the bungs, of course, are left open, and in the bodega they are left loose, or laid over the hole.

Sometimes the wine is left undisturbed in the bodega until required for shipment, when it is racked, clarified, and again fortified. It is considered best, however, to rack it once a year. The wine is now well fermented, and dry, or nearly so, and the sugar that may be found in it after shipment, has been put in by adding a small quantity of sweet wine.

The Bodegas, or Storehouses, in which these wines are stored, are entirely above ground, have very thick walls and double doors, the roof is covered with tiles, and the floor may consist only of a mixture of sand and loam, which, when moistened, is not muddy, and when dry, is not very dusty. They are kept well ventilated, even at the expense of a good deal of loss by evaporation, and are comparatively cool, the rays of the sun being excluded by shutters. As only old or seasoned casks are used for shipment, the new ones are used for fermenting the must, and so they are seasoned.

Changes in the Wine.—The young wine in the bodega now, during the first two years, undergoes extraordinary changes. That made from the same vineyard and of the same varieties of grapes, crushed at the same time, placed in casks side by side, receiving apparently identical treatment, develops totally different characters in different butts, and is classed according to these several characters, as Fino, Oloroso, and Basto.

The best is fino, of a delicate, soft, mellow flavor, and pale in color, and only from ten to twenty per cent. take this form. The fino, at times, develops into a still finer quality, producing what is known as amontillado, the most valued of all.

Oloroso is a nutty flavored development rather deeper in color, and of a stouter character; when old, it is of great body, and perfectly dry.

The coarse, inferior kind is called basto.

There are still other casks which by bad behavior, poor fermentation, or weakness, are only fit for the still.

Flowers.—Sherry produces the phenomenon known as flowers of wine (micoderma vini), of which a writer under the assumed name of Pedro Verdad, whom I have frequent occasion to quote, says: “At every period, about the flowering of the vine, and at about vintage time, the wine begins to ‘breed;’ that is, throw up a flor (flower), which remains for some time on the surface, and then falls in sediment to the bottom, when the wine once more becomes bright. This phenomenon is looked for with great anxiety in the bodegas, for if it does not occur, the wine may be assuming some other and less valued character. Strange as it may appear,” he says, “I have seen the actual flor rise in a bottle in England, just as in the butt in Spain.”

Vino Dulce, or Sweet Wine, is made from the sweeter kinds of grapes, especially the Pedro Jimenes. The grapes are exposed to the sun, sometimes for a fortnight, and till they almost become raisins, and they then go through the ordinary modes of crushing and fermentation. To each butt of this wine about six or seven gallons of spirit are added, while the must of other grapes have as much as twenty gallons mixed with each cask of must to check the fermentation, and keep the wine sweet. One-third of the spirit is poured in as soon as a small portion of the must has been put into the cask, a third when the cask is half full, and a third when nearly three-quarters full. The reason is obvious, as the spirit is lighter than the must, and would otherwise remain on the top. Soleras of vino dulce are of a sweet, luscious flavor, and of an oily and slightly glutinous consistency. The finer kinds resemble a liqueur, and are of great value.

Vizitelli says that sweet wine is used to give softness and roundness to old and pungent wines, as well as to the cruder, youthful growths, and it is remarkable how very small a quantity suffices perceptibly to modify these opposite characteristics. As little as one per cent. of dulce will impart a softness to the drier wines, which otherwise they only acquire after being several years in bottle.

Color Wine (Vino de Color) is composed of a mixture of white wine and arrope. The latter is a must of white grapes boiled down over a slow fire till it is reduced to one-fifth or one-sixth of its original quantity, great care being taken to skim it while boiling. This is a dark-colored, almost black fluid, of a bitterish taste. It is mixed with from three to five times its volume of white wine, and the “color” is formed.[11] It is chiefly used for giving color to young and undeveloped wines. With great age, the solera of this wine is very valuable, being of a deep brown color, and a perfect essence.

Mature Wines.—When the wines have assumed their distinctive characters—and this requires from three to five, or even more, years—they are used to replenish the soleras. In the shippers’ bodega are kept many soleras, each containing a given number of butts. A solera, whether classed as fino, oloroso, or otherwise, has its distinctive quality required in the preparation of a wine for shipment. It has been reared and nursed for years with careful attention; each butt has been tasted from time to time, and any cask in which a material deterioration has been detected is rejected from the solera, and probably fortified with spirits, or distilled.

THE SOLERA SYSTEM.

The distinctive feature in the production of sherry is the solera, which signifies foundation, and means old wine kept in casks, which are never moved as long as the solera exists, and on the foundation of which younger wines are reared.

The casks are arranged in groups, piled in tiers, and the groups into scales. The distinctive feature of the system is a series, commencing with a very old wine, followed by a younger one, and so on down the scale to the youngest, so that when wine for blending and shipment is drawn from the group of casks constituting the oldest solera, they are replenished from the group of casks of the next younger solera, and these again from those of the next younger, and so on through the scale, thus keeping up the characters of the soleras.

Establishing a Solera.—The following from the address of Mr. Pohndorff before the Viticultural Convention held at San Francisco in September, 1882, gives a good idea of how to establish a solera:

Select the finest wines of a year’s vintage, put them away by themselves, and carefully care for them and nurse them by racking, etc., during the year. The next year, separate the finest wines from the vintage, always leaving ullage in the casks of three to five gallons, according to size, and the bungs loose, simply laid over the hole. Go on in this way for five years. Now a fifth of this five-year-old wine may be drawn off for, and used to establish another solera, and the casks refilled from the four-year-old wine, which, of course, must be as nearly as possible of the same nature. With the younger wines, you may do the same, except those of one and two years old, which are not yet soleras, but young wines. You have then a solera of this five-year-old wine, which is one-fifth four-year-old wine, and this may be called the mother solera. At the end of ten years more, you can say that you have a solera fifteen years of age; though during the period, you have drawn off periodically a small portion of it and replaced it with the next younger, always providing that the younger wine is similar, for this quality is of much greater importance than the difference of a year or two in age, for wine a year or two younger or older, if of the same kind, will not injure the solera, but its character may be destroyed by mixing with it wine of a different nature.

A solera, then, really consists of a mixture of wines of different years. The head of each cask is inscribed with the distinguishing mark of its solera, and the number of butts of which it is composed.

“The Standard Soleras,” says Gen. Keyes, “are those from which the wine is drawn for shipment, and their contents have rested in, and permeated through, a series of groups called feeders”—a solera sometimes dating back a century, it is said. “At every stage the wine is graded, so that the best young wine passes ultimately into the oldest and highest priced solera. When there is only a small number of feeders, say two or three, in the group next behind the standard solera, the wine ought not be drawn out for shipment oftener than twice a year; but when there are many, say twelve, the wine for shipment may be drawn out every two months. To make myself understood in this complicated process, I must explain the principle upon which it is founded. When wine is needed for shipment, a portion is drawn out by siphons from the standard soleras. The amount which may be drawn out with safety, and the kind of younger wines which are to replace it in the old solera, requires great skill and experience, and, I may say, a natural aptness for the business. The end in view is to draw off from a standard solera such a number of gallons, that, being replaced by an equal number of gallons of the younger wines, the standard of the solera may remain intact. If too much is drawn out, or if it is replaced from the wrong feeders, the standard may be injured, or even destroyed. But if the proper number of gallons are drawn out and replaced by the right sorts from the other casks, the old solera soon transmutes the younger wines to its standard, the bodega retains its reputation, and the owner grows rich.” He quotes Mr. Davis, of Jerez, as follows: “The age of the first step of a solera scale depends entirely upon the character and price of the oldest grade of that particular solera. For instance, the first group of wine in a scale of six, ending in a medium priced sherry, might be two years old; whereas, the first group of wine to permeate through a scale of, say four, ending in a wine of great age or value, would, perhaps, require to be fifteen or twenty years old. In proportion to the number of the scale behind the final solera, so is the frequency with which the wine can be drawn determined. In a scale of twelve, the final solera might be drawn, perhaps, every two months. In a scale of three feeders, perhaps twice a year.”

Blending for Shipment.—In the cellar a book is kept in which is recorded the blend of each shipment made, the history of the shipment, and all the facts necessary to its identification, and a sample bottle of every shipment is also preserved. When an order is received for a quantity of wine of the same kind as a former shipment, reference is made to the blend book, and recourse is had to the sample bottle, due allowance being made for the bottle flavor acquired by the sample, and the blend is prepared accordingly, the necessary quantity being taken from each solera, of which there are many in a shipping bodega, and allowance is also made for the change that may have occurred in the solera by replenishing. It is needless to add that only experience and natural aptitude fit a man for this delicate operation.

If the order is by a sample whose blend is not known, the sample is brought into the tasting office, and the blend glass brought into requisition. It is a graduated glass tube, with forty markings, corresponding to the number of jarras, or jars, which a butt contains, all shipments being by the butt. The shipping butt contains 130 gallons, and the cask for storing is about 20 gallons larger.

The cellar-man dips out and puts into the graduated glass amounts corresponding to the number of jars to be taken from each solera, sweet wine being added for sweetness, and color wine for color. As the sugar added in the sweet wine would excite fermentation, sufficient aguardiente, spirit, must be added to bring its alcoholic strength up to at least 18 per cent.

The right blend having been ascertained, it is left for a while, and tasted once or twice to make sure that it is correct. If it does not match the sample, a little of this and that solera is added till it exactly corresponds. The blend is then entered in the blend book, which gives the number of butts required, and the amount to be taken from each solera. The book is then handed in to the bodega for the execution of the blend. Supposing it to be a ten-butt shipment, ten butts are brought into the cellar, having been most carefully examined and rinsed out with spirit. If ten jars are required from a solera of fifty butts, two jars would be drawn from each of the fifty butts of the solera, and put into the ten butts, and so on from each solera; whatever the number of butts in a solera, an equal quantity of wine is drawn from each cask.

The following samples of blends are given by Verdad:

Fining.—After the blend is complete, the wine is fined with the whites of eggs and fuller’s earth, a kind of earth found at Lebrija, near Jerez, and called Tierra de Lebrija. For a butt of wine, a handful of this earth is made into a paste with the whites of ten eggs. The paste is thrown into the cask, and the wine is stirred in the usual manner. (See Fining.)