Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890, 1886-09-26

EplroR HERALD;--As the production
Of wine grapes is an important industry
in this and the adjoining counties, 1t
concerns us to know how to obtain the
best results. 1t is fact that our wines
do not find q ready market; they go off
slowly and at a low figure Mission and
MALAYSIA make liquid hardly entitled
to the name Of wine. The former, in the
Santa Aua valley. is certainly dying ont,
while the fruit Of the latter rots before
it 10 ripe enough for crushing. Up to
this time those have been our principal
varieties. There are few vineyards Of
Berger, but its wine is Of a neutral type,
never very good but sometimes very
poor. Zinfandsi with us Is failure,
one half to two thirds of its fruit rotting
before 1t has the requisite amount Of
sugar. Some good ziufandel has been
made in this county and San Diego, but
it ia very uncertain In the fermenting
tub and is apt to give poor color. In
Napa and Sonoma it is the principal
wine grape, and blended with the new
varieties to which it is rapidly giving
place makes the dry red wine which
finds ready market at 81 to 30 cents
per gallon naked. There Is hardly
Mission or Malvasia vineyard north Of
the bay. The grape growers there have
had the courage Of their convictions, cut
of or dug out the old stocks and grated
or replanted with new and choice varie-
ties, such as have proved themselves
worthy Of culture. Consequently they
srs eminentIy prosperous while we here
in Southern California, with o climate
as good for the production of choice
wine grapes and with seasons as favor
able Is any in the world for successful
lamentations are falling behind aud
are adheriug to the traditions Of hun.
dred years ago, in which the principal
figures were the mission vine and the
Mexican wooden pillow, par mobile fret.
rxm. A few great wineries have had
. monopoly OF the grape crop of this
county, have purchased the crops Of
vineyardists ct whatever it suited them
to give and either doctored the wines
themselves OF sent them to their eastern
agencies to be sold for the manufacture
oil spurious and aduIterated wines. The
abundant supply OF choice wines sent
east from the northern vineyards has let
the bottom out OF the southern market
and the great wineries Of Los Angeles
county no longer buy grapes at any
Price. All these have. from very humble
beeinniugs. accumulated vast fortunes.
Now the men who have grown grapes
for the wineries are without market
and cannot retire upon q competency.
They look in every direction for relief,
and h3ugh relief comes not, it never
occurs to them that the fault is ssnot in
their stars, but in themselves that they
are nnderlings."
What is the way out OF this difficulty;
by what change Of front can we regain
prosperity? In the District Convention
held In Los Angeles three years ago our
vitieulturists were wsrned Of the present
trouble. Mr.. Kohier told them that
they had too many Mission grapes
and advised them to cut off the tops
lev inches below the surface Of the
ground, split the stocks with a Ratchet
and put in scions of better varieties.
Mr.. Wetmore told them THAT in about
sfhree years, when the newly planted
Mission and Malyasia vineyards had
come into bearing, somebody was going
to fqueal." And now we squeal. The
grape men thought Wetmore and Kohler
very unjust and resolved TO stand by an
old friend, but that old friend does not
stsnd by them. Oiner varieties have
bssn sufficiently tested to prove that
great Improvement can be made in the
quality of our wines without sacrificing
quantity; Mataro, Carignsn and Grenache
are better bearers than Mission. and
either blended or single make vastly
better wine. They give intense color.
ferment well and the wine is slid to bear
transportation better than any known.
The grapes will hang on the vine until
dry without rotting.
The writer, in April, 1885. grated
some old stocks with scions Of thee va
rieties, obtained from the Natoms vine.
yard Through C. A. Wetmore, Esq.. and
Ia October, 1885, sent to the county fair
samples Of era pes that attracted much
attention, and from less than two hun
dred of these newly grated vines made
thirty five gallons OF ohoics wine. The
writer gave to s. NJ. Brown, OF Tnstin,
thirty cuttings, ten OF each kind, from
each OF which he made two scions and
grated sixty old stocks, and in the same
year from the grapes Of these sixty
stocks made ten gallons of deep.colored.
sound, dry cIaret, Of great body and ex-
cellent favor. Samples Of the writer's
wine were sent to the State Viticuliural
Convention, held in San Francisco in
March, 1886, and received commenda-
fiop as type worthy Of attention. All
my vines grated in 1885 with these va.
rietios are now heavily loaded with fruit
nearly ready for the vat.
But these are not the only varieties
wherewith to improve our viticulture.
Our best guide in selecting varieties Is
climate. Any OF the grapes of Southern
France or Northern Spain will suit
Southern California, while those of the
Rhine or Northern France will prove a
failure every time. Tannat and Drum
moni's two impcrtations, Gros Manein
and St. Macaire ought to obtain wide
space in our vineyards He represents
them as enormous bearers, and their
wine Is equal to the best that has been ex-
hibited in our State Viticultural Con-
ventions. They are great growers, as
the writer can testify, for scions obs
famed from Drummond no bigger than
common pen-holder and grated on
Malyasia stock In April, 1886, are now
one and half inches In diameter, the
tops covering the SKIS feet allowed them.
Through improvement in the varieties
Of our grapes lies our road out OF our
present difficulty. There is an old say.
Inn that ssvou cannat make n sill nnrue
out Of sow's ear. no more can you
make q fine wine from an inferior grape.
b. II. TwoMBLY.
Santa Ana, Sept "a.