New-York tribune., 1872-07-31
CALIFORNIA WINE.
TorrR THROUGH SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
VINEYARDS AND wINE-MAKlNG-p. -,D,' nn.'n ne, v
THE COST OF yINEYAhp-ho" i"N "'''

SoNoMA Nav 10.-The buslneS ol IalsihS
cranes and making them into wine Is areauy very
great one IN California, and VIII increase rapuy ioi
yoars IN come As have Travelled through the state
"a ha,o ooo, the VINEYARDS, have again and again
ao, What becomes OF oil the wine that Is already
ado here Yet IL is ali consumed there If very ttle
old wine in any OF the vineyards OF cellars,
aud no matter how remote or how FAR from the great
markets the wnemaker sells his wine oftenest at what
really high price, fast as he can make It, There are
for psanee 10 acres OF vineyard about Vsalia IN the
Son Ioaouin Valley; OF this Is not much but
vaa has until this month. lain almost as much OUT Of
the world as though 1t in the Sandwich lslands III
had no rairoad-tho Southern Pacific Railroad IA just
pow approaching it, and WILL before October, extend
through the whole great valley to Bakersfed-and wine
does not bear transportation by wagon by reason OF It's
bnkiness yet there Is old wine about Visalia AT
San Bernardno too the wine makers could hardly sup
plv the demand they told me- and DR.. Edgar's Vlnc-
Yard which lies % miles east Of San Bernardno IN the
san Gorgono Pass, sells It's wine, excellent mild
wine like good sauerne before it IS two years old
no ADULTERATIoN
AS for the Sonoma and Napa vineyards, near san
Francisco few Of their owners, men Of capital pur-
nosey keen their wine but most Of them sell 1t as fast
os IL is made TO tho wine houses In the city OF
I'm the East. 1t will perhaps show you now
| great is the consumption OF California wines, IL
/ tell you that The house OF LandsDerser
& Company In San Francisco, which successfully mah
ufacres champagne and Ia, believe, the only house
which has succeeded in this business in San Francisco
finds It difficult supply the demand west OF b. LOUIS
All this means that winegrowing in California, 30 ii
from being oyerdone as imagined IL might be, Is SUN
in ifs infancy with the demand increasing every year
faster than the production Tho planting OF vineyards
goes on steadily, and every year men learn De'ter
and what to plant and how TO manage the wine' Ineo
is one fact about California wine which entities IL 10 to
preference of wne-drinkerst is pure grape iuce Inc
| and rpens 30 WELL in this state 'na' ="
| does not nav TO aduterate the grape JWco'
The wine-producer better afford 10 sell Vho
| his cranes than he could manufacture any ar.ino
ponnd What may be done with the wine "hen ~ 81, 81,
70 tbe East do not know, but here, the winenaker s
Won openly this white red wine) Is the pto Jo
the grape; this port wine) has such quanty u
ddod % n N make it keep, and 10 make it port "o'
tbs langelica) has also brandy. The brahuy - "uo
| the vineyard from the same grapes whch yiolu .no
wine and is added by the vineyardst III is 10 secro' AZ
! all. and I am persuaded that who wants pure grape
Juice can buy 1t in California without inc ""' uN'
| OF being cheated by adnlteratohs'
WHAT A VINEYARD COSTS.
Tho famons SOnOma and Napa vineyards are al TINS
season most lovely sight The heavy frost wmch cao
late in Apr did not hurt them seriously, and the vines
are crowded with young punches OF grapes Ihe crop
nronises we'll was surprised to find the sonoma Nal-
lev 10 consist in large part OF gravely red aria SOIL
would make poor pasture. But 1t Is precisely inc
soil reouired by the vine; and It valuable discov-
cry of the Hungarian Harasthy the father Oh "necu
ture in tlas State that the barren Sonoma nils wouu
crow wine He did not live to see how great Dusl-
ness his zeal and knowledge was to found but
his sons are yet engaged In the culture ol
the vine in the valley, so large part
~ which he was instrumental in planting.
As the grape can be successfully grown III
amost every part Of Southern California; shall be doing
some one a service perhaps, by giving some account o
the cost of making a vineyard The following details ap
py 10 SonoIna and Napa but they Will vary niue, II AT
ALI in other parts of the State except as to the price OF
land vine land being cheaper in the san Joaquin Vaey
than in sonoma and dearer in some other parts Oh inc
state Good grape land can be bought from four TO
seven miles Of sonoma for from $40 TO s25 per acre III IL
lies high up the hillsdes 1t may be little cheaper
but It will cost to clear 1t. such and on Wheh the
hest grapes grow WE'LL ia often poor that 1t would
hardly support goats. The average size OF vineyards 49,
I find from 25 to IS acres or course there are some
larger ono man with one horse can cultivate
and keen in order 25 acres OF course he will need help
at the time Of picking Fencing costs in the sonoma
Valley 81 50 per mile, for four-board fence In some
parts of the State would cost more but there should
advise the planting Of willows and sycamOTes Tor fences
Flowing breaking the ground, costs 50 per acre. On
the sleeper hisdes would cost s., and from $40 10 s6
for grubbng and taking out the stones where that Is
necessary narrowing, 81 80 per acre laying OIL, y :
digging holes s.. The holes usually Is inches In
diameter and spade and half deep. Cuttings OF the
vine 81 per thousand and Of the foreign varieties they
now plant 1000 TO the Planting, 3GS5 per acre
Cultivation in the year Of planting Suckering 81 cul-
| tivatng and narrowing, s3-$; second year-pruning
81 So and 90 cents 10 take away the brush powng and
| cultiyatng 81; suckerng, s2-su third year-prunng,
IS taking away brush, 81 plowing and cultivation, 81
suckering ST. total ss In this year the vines will pro-
| duce a little, say $40 per acre.
VINEYARD PROFITS
In the fourth year the vineyard pays, should pay II
It has been carefully attended profit. 1t should yield
an average 5000 pounds Of grapes TO the acre; the
cost of picking and hauling is about 81 30 per acre. and
there will be net or clear profit In this year OF sl 80
per acre In the fifth year the vines will yield 1900
vines 10 the acre. 5000 pounds in the sixth year. 5000
pounds; and this Is far product There vineyards
which produce twice much this, but they
ceptiona From this account, which received in the
sonoma Valley and in which number Of experienced
vineyardsts concurrod vineyard should cost at the
close of the third $50 90 acre. less $40 received
| that year, OF net $40 So
AS the business Is conducted, every yineyardst
makes his own wine, and this, which seems to me a
thoroughly bad and unbusnesske system, necessarily
involves the grape grower in and continually In
creasng expenses For he must add to his vineyard q
| wine cellar, which is though wheatgrower should
also build -four MILL For vineyard Of 80 acres, there
are required cellar 30 feet square, with press house
II, which Will cost, In S0noma, NOOi ana casks
which will cost-14OOO gallons at II centssl,54O. He
must also have crusher and presses $50 two watts,
$780, hose pumps, &c, $780, that he needs at once
nearly 900 OF capital II he has IT, well enough but II
he must borrow it, at from to II per cent per mouth
| it will keep him poor for some years. better
way to my mind would be to let the grapegrower sell
his grapes to the winemaker, and thus save himself
an investment for which his capital Ia Oftenest made
quate. This is done to some extent; but as the
business is more systematzed, imagine 1t Ill be the
usual way. At present, am told, when the grape
grower also makes wne the vineyard in the fifth yeaI