Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-10-14
wINE.MAKING ON LAKE ERIE.

a recent visit to the cluster of is
lands in Lake Erie, off Sandusky, Ohio,
enabled us to appreciate in some de-
gree, the magnitude of the wine-mak
ing interest in that section. Fully
half the surface.of the principal islands
Is covered with fourishing vineyards,
and while hundreds of tons Of grapes
are yearly sent to market for table use,
the bulk of the product is converted
into wine. This year it is estimated
that eight hundred thousand gallons
viii be made.
Whether the future man will drink
wine or not, it is evideut that the
American of the present day consumes
vast quantity, and Is beginning to
appreciate the juice of his own grapes,
and TO substitute it for the doctored
stuff sold under foreign labels. On
Kelly's Island there is a wine cellar with
storage capacity of $4,000 gallons.
sUmounted by an immense quadrant
gular building of stone, with tall
tower at each Of the corners, and a
feudal-castle appearance. This be
longs to the Kelly Island Wine Com
pany, which has a capital stock of
100000. Its apparatus for crushing,
fermentation, champagne-making, and
bottling is said to be unsurpassed by
anything in Europe. The demand for
the wines manufactured by this COM
pany, especially the Sparkling Catawba
introduced only two years ago-is
very large, and the stock on hand at
the present time has been reduced to
about $4,000 gallons. The company
will soon commence the manufacture Of
the present years crop, when their ca
pacious cellars viii be filed again.
Kelley Island, which produces more
grapes than any other island in Lake
Erie, embraces nearly three thousand
acres, fully the half of which is devoted
to the cultivation of the grape. About
forty years ago TIN island wds pur-
chased by two brothers named Kelley,
the fathers of the Kelleys who own the
largest portion Of it at present, for
which they paid $4,000, and it cost
about $1,000 more TO get clear titles,
making a total of $4,000. Some por-
tions OF the island have been sold to
other parties, who haveimproved them,
and the permanent population is fully
one thousand, while the value of the
island is now estimated at millions.
Kelly Island is almost as famous in
the lake cities and towns for its SUI
perior building stone as 1t is for the
quality Of its grapes and wine. This
alone brings revenue to the Kelleys
of not less than one hundred thousand
dollars a year.
On Middle Bass Island the firm of
Wehrie, Werk & Co., made 100000
gallons last year, and possess an excel
lent cellar cut in the lime stone rock.
The Put-in-Bay Company have cell
lar capacity of 100000 gallons. Beside
these firms there are many large vine
ward proprietors who make up the pro-
ducc Of their own vines and have small
cellars.
A word as to the quality Of the wine.
The CotOwba, the most distinctiveiy
American wine made, has been brought
to perfection, and the experience ac-
quired in its production enables the
great companies to guard against too
great variations in Inequality of differ
ent years yield. This wine is con-
tinually growing in public favor. The
unsweetened, although less popular, is
far more wholesome and usually of
better duality than that to which sugar
is added in large quantities. Sweet
wine is heavy, heating drink, which
has lost the refreshing wine properties
of the natural sub-acid grape juice.
From the Catawba wine an excellent
sparkling wine is extensively made
on Kelly and Middle Bass Islands
by subiecting it to precisely the same
processes employed IN making cham
payne. The peculiar flavor Of the
Catawba grape adhercs to it, and plain