Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-12-20
From the New York World.
GRAPE CULTURE.
rs PROGRESS IN The UNITED STATES.
THE CALIFORNIA LIGHT WINES.


THE CALIFORNIA LIGHT WINES.
How Oar Native Wines can be popularized,
\ most gratifying evidence both Of the
wonderful adaptability of our soil and of
the progress of enlightened horticulture is
found in the comparatively recent success
which has attended the grape culture in
widely separated sections of the country
So quietly and yet SO rapidly have the pro-
pagation of the vine and the manufacture
of native wines gone on that the general
public, educated to believe that vine like
ivory and diamonds must come from some
far away and almost mythical locality, can
hardly comprehend the claims Of the en-
thusiastic Americans who assert that the
half cleared valleys of the Great West al
readvrivai the hills of the Rhine in the beau
ty and extent OF their vineyards, and that
Ohio and New York are putting into the
market every year thousands Of gallons OF
wines which in flavor aud purity are no
imean competitors Of the celebrated brands
from France and Germany.
While some of these claims in regard to
favor and bouquet are no doubt absurd,
considering the comparatively recent adj
vent of the wine-making enterprise here,
the progress made is nevertheless most re-
mark able, and the present magnitude OF
the production warrants the particular re-
cCgnition which is the object OF 5his ar
ticie.
This very rapiQlty Of expansion and OF
growing interest is an entirely new field OF
industry, suggests gratifying results to the
sanitarian no less than the economist
While indiScreet refOrmerS have sought TO
| abolish the evils of INSTRUMENTATION
hended mainly in the guzzlng OF whiskey;
| by prohibitOry enactments the moral eXpe-
dIency OF which still remains an open 4ues
ton and the political improperly of which
| has invariably intensified the evil they
sought 10 eradicate while, we say, a new
school Of political reformers has endeav-
Ored to stop drunkenness 10y legal exor-
cism, the most effective, because the iuOst
natural, remedy for Whisley drinking has
been quietly making Roadway. To plant
grape vines was long ago recognized by the
! IleaIer-neaded to D9 q more etfectuAI meth
OK; OF meeting the evils OF intemperance
than the planting Of a policeman before
every mans door What the country need
ed vas a popular, easily attainable and
comparatively harmless light stimulant,
corresponding to the native light wines OF
Germany and the South OF France-sosle-
! thing which would take the place Of the
medicated liquors that were imported, and
offer q substitute for the anhydrous COM
pounds of our own stills. If we have not
vet reached that pleasing condition there
| has nevertheless been much progress made
toward it, and the surprising multiplication
! OF grape growers, and the increased inter
est taken in the propagation and develop
meu5 OF native wines within q few years,
warrants the assertion that another decade
will see the United States among the great
wine-producing countries Of the earth
This statement may be made more explicit
| by careful basis Of facts and figures But
| it is enough for our present purpose to re-
mind the reader that it is within the mem
DRY of most of us when the vintage of the
country could be summed up in the elder
berry and currant wines of our grand
/ mothers made on the homestead and stored
in the pantry.
Probably the Oldest wine producing dis
trict in America is that in the valley Of the
Rio Grande where the Pueblo indians
made the Ell Paso wine for many years 10y
the most primitive process. This wine has
q certain excellence and finds ready mar
ket. Los Angeles, three hundred miles
southeast Of San Francisco, produced in
1853 about IS, 600 gallons of wine, most Of
! WHICH 1OuEO It's WY 10 bue IetStefu AnaE-
kets. In the Del Norte valley, New Mexi
co, there are 400 square miles, or 256, 900
acres, under grape culture, and it is esti-
mated that 58,0O0,0O0 gallons Of wine are
made there annually.
The Catawba grape, the best known aud
the first cultivated for vintage purposes
was discovered in a wild condition about
1901 in Buncombe county, North Carolina,
near the head water Of the Catawba River.
About a quarter of q century afterwards
the grape was found in the garden of a
German near Washington. Mr.. Long
worth, Of Cincinnati, procured some Of the
cuttings and was the first to experiment
with them in an intelligent manner and on
a large scale. From this experiment with
the indigenous fruit grew the wine bust
ness of the Ohio valley, the grape culture
spreading along the banks OF that river to
Pittsburg and Cairo, and southerly into
Tennessee. An idea may be formed of the
immense strides which have been made in
the production of wine by q glance at the
following table taken from the United
States census, and showing the number Of
gallons of wine produced in six States in
1850 and 1860: