Of all those wines possessing distinct characteristics, and which impress the palate in a marked degree, none is more prominent, in the opinion of Mr. Cosens, than that one of Spanish growth, known under the generic name of Sherry, and which is so called from being produced near the town of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, around which cluster the oldest and most famous vineyards.

Of late years, since railway communication has opened up the interior of Spain to the seaboard, a great impulse has been given to viticulture around Seville, the Montilla district near Cordova, and other outlying localities: the wines being light, genuine, and delicate, are in general favour as dinner beverages at moderate prices.

The area producing the veritable Jerez has been somewhat extended, since Dr. Gorman, in 1851, published his statistical tables of the annual yield, which he gave as 52,000 butts for the whole district.

There is, probably, little doubt that the famous "Methuen treaty," while it secured a temporary monopoly for the wines of Spain and Portugal, induced a much more careful cultivation, and consequently a yield of superior wine; so much so, that, since then, Sherry has become a household wine as much by force of quality as by fiscal favouritism. Of course the usual penalty of excellence has to be paid, and Cape and Elbe Sherries have started into notoriety, as cheap imitations, damaging the reputation of the pure produce of Jerez in the estimation, at least, of the ill-informed.

From old records still preserved amongst the archives at Jerez, we find that so early as 1268 vineyards are named as existing contiguous to the "Cartuja monastery" on the banks of the Guadalete which flows past the Portal or Port of Jerez, a short distance from the town itself. It is also stated that in the year 1483, "no English or Breton ships have arrived this year in consequence of the war with the Biscayens," and in an old print of the time of the sack of Cadiz under Essex, men are seen carrying butts of wine slung by ropes suspended from their shoulders, to a boat on the beach, a vessel apparently of English build, lying at anchor in the Bay, the casks are of precisely the same shape and character as those now in use.

There is no doubt that prior to 1483 the wines of Spain were consumed and appreciated in England. In 1419 William Horrold was placed in the pillory for counterfeiting and vending "olde and feble Spaynishe wyn for good and true Romeney."

The same counterfeiting, for a long period fostered by the half duty charged upon Cape wines, has no doubt led many medical men into error as to the exact hygienic effects of Sherry.

Judging from continental practice there are many maladies for which genuine and generous wine of the Sherry type is the only recognised and approved curative stimulant.

A large quantity of really superior Sherry finds its way annually into consumption in England, in fact all the costly and rare growths are exported to this country.

Domecq, Garvey, Gonzalez, Cosens, and others devote themselves almost exclusively to the growing, rearing, and exportation of the produce of the oldest and best cultivated vineyards of the "termino of Jerez." These wines can be procured in a perfectly genuine state and in the highest perfection through the established channels of supply - wine merchants of credit and position.

Undoubtedly, good, sound, wholesome, young Sherry may always be procured at a moderate price; but those who look for high character and rare excellence must bear in mind that great resources are required to enable the shipper to breed fine wine; much time, skill, and patience, as well as technical aptitude are absolutely necessary to secure a favourable result. Fine Sherry must, therefore, always remain more or less costly; at the same time excellent wine may be procured at a moderate price, while "cheap and wholesome," is only, as a rule, another name for dear because inferior.

A teaspoonful of water in a glass of ordinary Sherry will render it grateful to the delicate digestion of most dyspeptics.

The great rage for cheap wines since the introduction of Claret at a low duty has undoubtedly stimulated the importation from the South of Spain of immature wines: such, improperly fermented, carelessly prepared, and of inferior growths, have disgusted many consumers; and the medical profession have noted their baneful effects from a hygienic point of view.

Ford says in his Handbook, speaking of Manzanilla, "Drink it, ye dyspeptics;" but as there are wines and wines, so are there Manzanillas and Manzanillas. No wine requires more time and skill to grow and rear, or probably, in its immature state, is more injurious to a delicate stomach.

A great deal of controversy has at times arisen as to whether the sprinkling of grapes with a very small quantity of gypsum is desirable or not; some assert that the lime in the sack, so feelingly alluded to by Falstaff, arose from this same sprinkling, especially as there is but little doubt that up to the early years of the eighteenth century the "Sherris, sack," of history was quite a new wine exported from Spain almost as Must. Hence all the empirical recipes given in such books as the "Mysteries of Vintners" (1699), etc.

With reference to this sprinkling of gypsum, practised since the days of Pliny, its sole use is probably to counteract the effects of an over-production of albuminous matter dangerous to the wine during the years required to ripen and perfect it.

Genius in the management of sherry has its value undoubtedly, but it must be supplemented by training.

Condition, time for bottling, refining - all these require long and patient study; the result being, from skill and good management, bottled sunshine! - and from the contrary Daffy's Elixir!

The Red wines of Spain are annually gaining favour; they are ripe at an earlier age than the White, and possess dietetic and hygienic properties peculiarly their own. At the Claret duty of 1s. per gallon, instead of 2s. 6d., they would probably become the Red wines of the million.