CigarsLover Magazine Awards Issue

rubber or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to limit breakage.
The etymology of its name would seem to refer to the
Spanish term "avenencia", which stands for agreement.
In fact, it was the widely spread practice of wine merchants
to seal the purchase of large batches by sharing a
glass, drawn from the best barrel of the production stock.
As part of the production of sherry, venencia is used by
venenciadores, true specialists in its use, who drop it into
the barrel through a hole, and then pour the contents of
the cylinder cup into the tasting glass. This operation,
which may seem simple when told in such a short way, in
reality must be performed with a quick and perfect maneuver,
according to a real art. First of all, the venencia
must be lowered and extracted very quickly, so as not to
break the veil of the sherry flor. Immediately afterwards
it is rotated, overcoming gravity with the centrifugal force
impressed by the rapid movement of the arm, to allow the
wine to oxygenate. Finally, the sherry must be poured into
the glass, an operation that is not at all simple if you use
a 90 cm long tool, from which the hand must not be moved
from the initial position (the other end of the venencia).
If you add to all this operation a typical dress, trunk
rotations and flamenco dancer movements, you will immediately
understand why to become venenciadores you
need years and years of practice and why there is even a
world championship to reward the best of the performer.
#4-2022 CigarsLover Magazine
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