Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-07-10

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words OF wisdom for California
Winsmakers.
NJ. Arnaud, an eminent winemhkef;
formerly Of France. but now resident
OF Virginia, in an address before the
National Viticultural Association, AZ
Washington, d. c.. said;
The American wines have met great
prejudice when first introduced in the
American market. This Is strange
fact, because We all know that Ameri-
cans ale generally very proud OF their
products. They are very apt to say that
everything they have is the best
in the world. l quito agree they
are right very often, although | am a
Freuchman. And yet when we speak
of our American wines good many i'm
mediaiely bring in opposition the i'm
ported wines How is that ~ ny
a pas de ftmee sans feu," we say in
France--there is no smoke without
fire, such prejudice must have a cause.
What was the quality Of the first
American wines put on the MARKET
How were they madei How old were
they? Were they the pure juice OF the
grape; Of grape Of good quality. sound
and ripei These questions suggest inn
mediately the causes Of the prejudice l
have mentioned. The American grapes
from which wines were made fifteen
years ago were mostly Isabellas. Hart
fords, and afterwards Concords and Ives.
They have been turned into wine before
they were ripe. They had too much
acids. not enough sugar. Acids were
neutralxed with marble dust, chalk,
plaster, lime, magnesia, and also
diluted with water; glucose and
sugar were added not only to
supply the deficiency, but to excess,
producing o sort OF cordial called port,
sherry. etc. 1t is this stuff that has
created the prejudice against which we
are fighting now and will have to fight
again and again, with the gertrude OF a
glorious victory If our fight is made in
the right way.
The address made at the opening of
the present session by the Hon. N. J.
Colman, Commissioner OF Agriculture,
will have great effect against that pre-
judice, and all the wine growers have to
tender him their thanks. But the grape
and wine growers have something else
to do. Encouragement and compliments
will not improve Their wines; Law will
not do it; chemistry alone will not do it,
They have to do away with neutralizing
the acids, diluting them, adding glucose
OF sugar. Such processes viii not produce
wines. have been living more than
forty years in the Medoc district
of bordeaux. have been visiting Bur
gundy; nobody will deny that they pro-
duce the best elarets, aud there diluting
or neutralizing the acids and adding
sugar are things not known. They con-
fine themselves to the use OF the grapes
only for making claret wines. 1t seems
to me that ii we want to make good elaret
we must look there for MODELS; as for
champagne we must look for the cham
payne district, and look at the process of
Spain and Portugal for sherry and ports.
Aud here l cannot restrain myself from
mentioning fact which has been
always inexplicable to me. 10 Europe
every district is making one SORT
OF wine only--here claret, there cham
payne, there sauternes, elsewhere sher-
ry, and elsewhere port. In America
most every winery with grapes. far from
perfect, makes at will and at the same
time cIaret, port, sherry, champagues,
sauternes. I can not understand that.
Would it not be better for the American
grape grower to investigate what sort OF
wine his locality can produce, and then
produce such a wine as they do III
France, Germany. Italy, Spain-every-
whereg The same climate can not pro-
ducs grapes Dit to make claret and to
make port or sherry. 1t will be ore or
the other, or you need to have recourse
to artificial process.
What is to be done then? Investigate
thu soil and climate Of each district
where grapes are grown, and see by
Comparison with Europe what sort of
wine can be made. Select the best vsri.
cites adapted 10 soil and climate. East
OF the Rocky Mountains we have to
give up the Wits Vinifera or European
vine. We have to leave this vine to our
California brothers, they are more
favored than we are; but we have good
American varieties and we viii improve
them yet, and most of them are phyl-
ioxera proof, which is a sufficient COM
pensation. Cultivate the grapes
In a. perfect way as practice
able. Learn by experiment how
deep they must be planted. ac-
cording to soil and climate; how far
apart, according to variety and strength;
how long they must be pruned in the
winter; how much they can be pruned
or pipched In the summer; what quantity
OF crop each vine can produce. OF course
we have to combine all these points in
view OF obtaining from given area Of
land the largest crop Of the best quality.
| ought to FAY quality first--quality IS
more import mt than quantity, but both
must be the aim Of the viticulturist. 1t
seems that vine can produce only
certain amount of saccharine matter,
ths n If there are too many lunches, the
saccharine matter is deficient In the fruit
and the reduction of the number of
punches will increase the sugar.
Picking the fruit at the right time is
also Of great Importance. In France,
especially in sauternes. FIVE regular
pickings are made, taking each time
from the vine the ripe punches, and
sometimes the ripe berries only. For
white wines the grapes are never too
ripe in France. For red wines they
must bs ripe; but as the wines have to
ferment with the skins and berries, skins
and berries must be sound, and not have
undergone any decomposition. The
taste and the color Of the wine will be
very much injured by rotten berries.
can not and do not want to describe
the whole process of making claret
wines; it will take too much Of your
time, and that has been done already by
~--nxsa,aoI nina lraru I anaiaf only
on that point, that for making good
claret advise to take our models In the
Medoc. Have our grapes as perfect as
possible. from twenty to twenty-five per
cent. of sugar, and seven thousandths
of acids. Use nothing but sour grapes
Stem them If practicable, have
watts perfectly clean and sweet, put
the grapes in the watts as soon as posi-
BILE after they are gathered. Keep the
berries and skins and all the pomace
completely immarged in the must;
watch carefully the fermentation and
draw the wine in casks at the proper
time. Here will advise specially the
size Of casks used in the Medoc and in
BurQundy--eixty gallons in the first
place, fifty in the litter. The size OF
casks, the wood they are made of to be
new or old, are matters of great import
ancs for the future quality of the wine
Wine is not injured by being drawn
from the yats in new casks; on the con.
frary II is benefited; but when old, II
you draw II in new casks, In whisky
barrels, in any cask except cask which
has contained wine already, you injure
Il TO such an extent that the use OF
l. +. - L.,
chaser the right OF refusing an old wine
delivered after it had recently been put
in new cask. When the wine is
in casks. have a good cellar, keep
the casks always full. filing at
IL ~ nj.