SWEET WINES—FORTIFIED WINES.
=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.
[4] It must be remembered that he is writing for the cold climate of
the Jura, where the grapes do not naturally acquire that degree of
maturity necessary for sweet wines.
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.
[5] Fermenting house.
[6] A pipe is 138 wine gallons, or 115 Imperial.
[7] Tuns.
[8] It will be noticed that Dr. Bleasdale says that the treading is
repeated during active fermentation. Probably different practices
prevail in different localities.
[9] About 4¾ to 9½ per cent—say 5 to 10.
[10] 4.35 per cent.
=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.
[11] Vizitelli says the arrope is mixed with nine parts of must, and
fermented to make the color, but the other authors say “white wine,”
instead of “must.”
=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:
ORDINARY PALE SHERRY.
Pale soleras, 20 jarras
Fino soleras, 16 “
Vino dulce, 3 “
Aguardiente, 1 “
——
40 jarras
ORDINARY GOLDEN SHERRY.
Pale soleras, 22 jarras
Oloroso soleras, 8½ “
Vino de color, 2 “
Vino dulce, 6 “
Aguardiente, 1½ “
———
40 jarras
ORDINARY BROWN SHERRY.
Pale soleras, 23 jarras
Oloroso, 4 “
Vino de color, 5 “
Vino dulce, 6 “
Aguardiente, 2 “
——
40 jarras
=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_.)