Daily Los Angeles herald., 1882-01-26
Pure Wine Without Grapes.
hondOn Times,

GENEVA, Dec. 20th.-The In
creasing use and production OF fab
ricated wines in this country are
giving rise to serious appreheu-
sions, ii not to actual panic,
among the vineyard proprietors OF
western s Switzerland. The PROS
perity Of several Cantons is based
either wholly or in part upon the
success of graps-grOwing, and any.
thing that threatens TO hinder the
production or curtail the cOnsump-
tion of wine naturally creates
great alarm. Adulterated wine
can pe dealt with. It IL easily de.
tected, it is injurious to health and
thousands of hectolitres of delete
rieus stuff are every year confis-
Gated and destroyed. But the
merely fabricated article contains
all the constituents of real wine,
and the most careful analyst can
find nothing in it that he does not
find in the fermented juice of the
grape. 1t is composed Of ninety
per cent. of water, five to six per
cent. Of alcohol, and four to five per
cent. of tannin. The water, which
costs the grape-grower as much as
any other of the constituents of
wine. costs the fabricator next to
nothing; the tannin and the alco.
hol he extracts from the imported
raisins. Thus the liquor hs con.
coots can g vended at q very low
price. At 25 francs the hectolitre
(about % cents q gsllen) the man.
ufactursr of this article can make
. handsome profit, and as the re-
taller sells 1t at the rate of 8 cents
the quart, his gains reach nearly
100 per cent.-hve or six times
more, probably, than the gains by
the sale of natural, unadulterated
wine. Nor is this all. Expert.
mepts are being made with a view
to finding q chemical substitute
for the rsisins used In the manu-.
facture, in which event fabricated
wine could be- produced at q cost
little exceeding that. OF slightly
alcoholized water, and grape. grow
ing would bs as utterly ruined as
madder cultivation has been ruined
by the discovery of the alizsrins
process Of Turkey red dyeing.
The making Of wine artincially
dates ia this neighborhood from
the time when the phylloxsra be.
gan its ravages among the vine-
yards of France, and it has now be.
come an extensive and profitable
trade. The difficulty OF putting it
down, especially in Switzerland,
where the Constitution guarantees
the fullest liberty of commerce,
seems almost insuperable. There
is NO law whereby o man can be
prevented from manufacturing an
article which he calls fabricated
wine and selling 1t to whomseever
will buy. He does not deceive any.
body, and he gives fair value for
the consideration he receives. The
retailers, it is true, are in y differ
ent position. They do not profess
to sell fab ricated wine, and their
customers are doubtless under the
impression that the liquor served
out to them is wine, aud nothing
but wine. How are they to know
that 1t is not? II one of them,
more Suspicious than the rest,
takes q sample to the Public An
alyst, he will simply be told that
1t contains all the constituents ol
good wine, and no substance thai
good wine ought not to contain.
Connoisseurs might possibly find
the flavor not altogether to theil
liking, but among people who
drink wine at 8 and 10 cents a
quart, conneisseurs are few and faI
between, and there is q vast deal Of
genuine wine which in bouquet
leaves much to be desired.