Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-05-06
A Great and growing Interest.

California wines in the East Is something
to daze the brain Of the Sleepy Hollow
portion Of our population. As matter
Of fact, phenomenal as has been the pro
duction In Southern California. OF late
years, as compared with oven FIVE years
ago, the demand has more than kopH
pace with It. Two propositions are soy |
evident. The first Is that the EASTERN
people are every day becoming moyb and
more habituated to the use of wines at
their meals, thus extending W. greatly
the market for wines, both native and
foreign. The second is BAT, year by
year, Californians are approving upon
the old methods Of Nine and brandy
making, and are, yfso, year by year.
sending to the EsN staples which chal'
lengo the crit n attention of the con
noisseurs of Zine.
Starting (ut. as we unquestionabiy
are, on %n exceptionally prosperous
career X a section, in which the citrus
fruits the cereals and the raisin grape
wilHbe very material elements in the
rpid accumulation Of wealth which is
fdestined to characterize this region to
remarkable degree, we nevertheless hold
that the manufacture Of pure wines and
brandies will ultimately prove to be the
leading factor in advancing Los
Angeles county to the premier
rank as great wealth producing
section over any other equal area on the
American continent To-day, notwith.
standing the astonishingly gratifying
results already achieved, we are but in
tho infancy of our development in this
speciality. Our most sagacious vignerons
are engaged in yearly experiments in
different varieties of foreign grapes
experiments which are certain, with oui
unexampled sun and soil. and peculiar
rain conditions, TO eventuate in wines
which will be notable over the whole
globe. While Los Angeles county ha'
thus far been free, to great extent
from the ravages Of the phylloxera, hel
sisters Of Sonoma and Napa have no
been equally fortunate, althours re-
possible that the parti"'ii PROVE 10
ported from that -saise. As result
H. . h,o.. ~ which have been devastated
-. renewed, trials of other grapes than
the Zinfandel have been reported at in
tervals, of most gratifying nature. In
consequence Of these ceaselcss expert
ments the various sections Of California
will shortly be supplied with the grapes
best adapted to their peculiar localities.
Thus, for years. the fact has been recog
nized that Southern California is especi.
ally adapted to the production Of ports,
angelicas. other sweet wines and bran
dies. 1t is only OF late, however that
the fact has been discovered that. under
skillful manipulation, light wines,
carrying only nine per cent. OF
alcohol can be made here in perfection,
For years it was thought that the
production of claret only slightly
alcoholized was impossible, yet Mr.. b.
Dreyfus, of Anaheiin, has shipped Zin
fandel to his house in San Francisco
which has been pronounced, by CONF
petent judges. to be superior to the
best Sonoma and Napa Zinfandel. Our
vignerons have also attained happy
results with the Riesling grape; while,
when Mr.. L. j. Rose first put his Blaue
Elben wine on the market it created u
positive sensation, both in California
and New York. As an incident of the
favor with which il has been received in
the East, we may mention the fact that
it is the private vintage of the Rev.
Henry Ward Beeoher. Mellowed by
age, it is really an almost incompatible |
hook.
The fact is that both our brewers and
our vignerons have made wonderful
progress in the last ten years. A decade
ago the beer made in this State was the
smallest of small beer. Since then the
Boca and Fredericksburgh breweries
have made an article which is recog-
nixed as far superior to the bottled beer
that reaches this Coast from the East.
The impulse is excelsior even in malt
liquors; while the advances Of our Wig
nerons, in ten years, have been such as
would have required centuries in Eu.
rope, in the old days.
We are not only encouraged in our
viticultural and vinieultural career in Cal
ifornia by the noticeable increase in the
excellence of our wines, but the prolific
yield of the grape in this section is a
thing calculated to excite astonishment.
Take, for instance, the vineyard OF Koh.
ler 4 Frohling, in the city OF Los Am
geles. The yield of the Mission grape
to the acre from their old vines was
nine tons last year. AT twenty dollars
a ton-the lowest price paid for grapes
in Los Angeles for two years past-this
would give a gross return, in cash, OF
$3.50 to the acre, which would only be
demimshed SIS for cultivation and care.
In the neighborhood of the kohler
Frohling place there are small vineyards
which have yielded as high as eleven
tons to the acre. To complete the be-
wildering presentment of facts as they
exist, there have been vineyards, planted
to prolific foreign grapes, which have
yielded as high as eighteen and twenty
tons to the acre But, discounting such
extreme figures, the grape in Los An
geles county is so productive, as COM
pared with the remunerative vineyards
of Europe, that one has to hold ones
breath, in considering the proposition.
Who can venture to forecast the fu-
ture OF Los Angeles county, when vine
yards shall have spread over all her
fecund valleys: The problem is too
great for immediate solution. One
thing, however, is assured. At the rate
at which we have been forging ahead
for some time past our vignerons will
manufacture $4,000, 900 year OF wines,
brandies, etc.; and, what is even better,
the market will absorb every drop which
exudes from our stills and wine presses.
This we regard as, in truth, the most
potential temperance movement of the