The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-02-11
LATEST TELEGRAMS.
WINE.
The Frauds that are PracIieed
on the Public.

~" L OAh3 NJ hC EOSIttfty OSl
has the following: Trade journals
are again directing attention to the
fact that large proportion of the
wines sold in this country as foreign
wine is produced in California, and
sold in bottles labeled with imita-
tation foreign labels. A Beaver
street wine merchant said, yester-
day, IN speaking of the matter,
"The chief trouble is that the mid
die men, the wholesale wine mer-
chants, who buy from the wine
maker and sell to the retailer, are
interested IN keeping up the decep-
ton, because, by means of it they
are enabled to buy cheap and sell
dear. 1t is to their advantage to
cry down American wines as in
ferior to foreign products, and when
they try to sell American
wines for what they really
are they find more opposition
from men who sell American wines
under foreign names than from
the few houses which really deal
IN foreign products, every plausi-
bic trick is TesoIted to for the pur-
pose of Disgusting the fact that the
wine sold is California wine. Even
In San Francisco, where some local
pride might be expected to help
the sale of native wines, they are
bottled and sold largely with French
labels, some being limitations of the
labels of the celebrated houses, and
others being more innocent of the
deception because they do not
steal trade marks. Since the pas
sage of an act imposing a
fine of $500 for selling wine with
forged labels, the fraud is carried
on more carefully, and cases of
bottles are sent by wine merchants
to retail dealers without labels sep
aratel y and which are pasted on ac-
cording to the demands of custom
ers. One case tof American wine
can by this system of associated
labels do service for half a dozen
French brands. In nine cases out
Of ten, according to a letter recently
published in the Wine and FrUit
GroaOeT, what is sold as French
wine in California is made there
! The immense profit in the decep
ton is what keeps it up. The eff.
feet is detrimental to wine
makers, who do not reap any
advantage from the increased
consumption Of their wines. Ihave
been told by one of the oldest wine
makers in California, that it was
| absolutely indispensable to do any
| business, to afix foreign label al
the request of the customer. If his
house did not do it another would
l have seen in bottling rooms OF
| California wine merchants, small
mountains of bottles, out of which
very few could he picked which
were not ornamented with spurious
labels. The manager of one estab
lishment said to me, "These bottles
come from all parts of the state
you see that they all have foreign
labels" and doubtless their con
tents were sold as imported
wine" Taking up bottles indis
criminately [ read such labels a
"Cantenoc Medoc 1864 D. Miscot
Bordeaux" "Margaud Medoe F
Keppler & Gle, Bordeaux" A SAL
Francisco of sauterne, "Pouget Fill
: Bordeaux. On a genuine bottl
and San Francisco label of "Can
tenac POuget Oils Bordeaux; :" on
California made bottle a label O
what purportedgto be German Hook
: "Rouen Thaler F. Weller & Co.
Maenz," was stuck on a Frencl
claret bottle, and an imitation o
Chateau la Rose label, bough
T in San Francisco at 81
1000, might be read on
good many. A fac SGnile of tn
''duc demarte Bello" label might b
seen on a California bottle, and OF
another a label of the inaginar,
firm Sc. Blossier & Co., Rhine.
A dealer in nothing but California
wines, who sells them as such ant
is trying to educate the. public tast
to like it under its true name, sail
the California wine growers hav
themselves to thank for the presen
condition Of affairs. Instead of de
voting themselves to making pur
wine, they attempted to try all sort
LOT devices to initiate European
wines in color and favor, and thu
played directly into the hands o
the importers. AS to the fact tina
an enormous quantity of Californi
wine is sold under foreign labels
there is no doubt whatever. An,
wine merchant will admit that no
one twentieth of the wine sold t
the eonsumers.in.this country in 8
was sold as American. -Four hundre
) and fifty thousand gallons wer
sold in one month to foreign i'm
porting houses in this city; 10000
gallons to a Spanish firm who w0ul
deny point blank having anything
to do with such a stuff as America
wine. The only remedy is for tn
wine producers to establish thei
own agencies and create
{ demand for native wines. A mem
3 Der of a French impoTtin
l house said: Undoubtedly Amer
+ can wine is sold under foreig
: labels, but it is still possible to bu
3 real French wine. Persons accu!
, toned to drinking wine know th
: difference Instantly, and our custom
4 L.