Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-01-22
CALIFORNIA WINE.
Progress Made in the Last
Few Years. Il
FOREIGN TYPES INTRODUCED.
Successful Experiments With
Bordeaux, Burgundy and
Rhine Wines.

Rhine Wines.
Ten years ago it might we'll bt
asked, to paraphrase Sydney Smiths
bitter gibe at American literature
Who drinks California wine? To
day the question will be answered by
thousands throughout the country
who have come to appreciate Califor'
MAS best wine, obtained direct from
the makers. This decade, which has
seen the practical demonstration ol
the proposition that California has
the soil and climate adapted for the
growing Of the finest wine grapes OF
France and Germany, has also wit
messed reverses, failures and grievous
disappointments among winemakers
that were enough to kill the cour-
age of the most sanguine. Every
step in the progress Of the
wine industry has cost infinite
pains; every advance has been the
result of experiments that frequently
proved the worthlessness of whole
vineyards. Nearly every prominent
vineyardist of Northern California
has at least three or four favorite for
'eign varieties of grapes which he has
been forced to root up in succession
because they have proved unavailable
for making wine that will improve
with age. In fact, the struggles of
these men have been as long and as
earnest as those of the raisin growers
of Fresno county and Southern Cali
fornia, or of the orange growers of Los
Angeles and San Barnardino. And,
unlike their bretheren of the South,
they are still at sea in regard to many
of the processes of winemaking and
the value of numerous European var
ieties.
THE MISSION GRAPE.
Wine-making in California dates
back to the time of the Mission
Fathers, to 1863, when Padre Juni-
pero Sierra founded the first mission
at San Diego. There the worthy
priests planted the vine, olive, fig,
;pomegranate and other fruits. Their
favorite grape was medium-sized
black grape, which grows in large,
loose clusters, and is excellent for the
table when freshly picked from the
vine. 1t makes fair red wine. Its
origin is not known, some claiming
that it was brought direct from Spain,
others that it was propagated in Mex
leo. However this may be, there is
to-day no Spanish grape which it
closely resembles, and it is a refec-
ton upon the intelligence of the
fathers that they should have brought
acr.ss the sea cuttings from so poor
variety as the Mission, when they
had choice of a half dozen noble
Spanish grapes. The mission grape
makes strong, sweet wiue that goes
to the head like brandy. The faith
eers had the monopoly of the vintage
for many years, but at all the Span
ish American haciendas, which Dana
SO we'll described in "Two Y ears Before
the Mast" wine for the use of the
household was made.
PIoNEEss IN wINE-MAKNG.
Early in the fifties, several enter
prising Argonauts who had not sue
~ceeded in gold mining turned their at
tention to viticulture. They were
struck with the immense crops borne
by the Mission vine, and they bought
vineyards and planted new ones. The
pioneer was the late Charles Kohler,
a musician with great taste for
country life. He was good Judge of
wine, and he did much to foster the
struggling industry of wine-making.
Next to him stands Colonel Agoston
Harazthy, who travelled through
Europe, making studies OF the best
wine grapes, and then experimental
with these varieties on his estate in
Sonoma county. He imported the
Hungarian grape called the Zinfandel,
which is now the most popular for
claret, and he was the first to give
popularity to California clarets. 1t was
long time, however, before any sys-
tematic effort was made to import
choice European varieties or to do any
of the work of the present Viticultural
Commission. To the German wine
growers, among whom one of the
pioneers was Jacob Schramm, Of st.
Helena, we owe the fine varieties from
the Rhine districts, that have made
California white wine popular. Among
these are the Riesling, Burger and
Golden Chasselas.
EXPERIMENTS WITH FOREIGN GRAPES.
1t took many years and costly expe-
riments to determine what European
varieties were best suited to different
districts and soils, and what methods
of culture and pruning would produce
the best crops. Thus it was found
that the Mission grape was well nigh
worthless except for the making of
heavy sweet wines and brandy, and
that for both of these purposes other
varieties are far superior. Even in
the southern counties they still cling
fondly to the old Mission variety,
which excels all others in bearing,
but the winemakers will soon be forced
to graft the Mataro, the Trousseau or
the Carignan on their Mission vines.
These are as superior for ports
or brandy as the finer claret grapes
are to the Zinfandel. Valuable pio-
neer work in this field OF testing the
adaptability of foreign varieties to
California soils has been done by H.
w. Crabb, Captain Gustav Nibaum,
Jacob Schramm, Captain J. H Drum
mond and Horatio Livermore. Each
of these men has made study OF
special varieties and has tested their
viItues by practical trial. Many
promising varieties have been con-
demned in this way because they did
not suit certain localities, but these
early errors are being rectified and
every season sees some substantial
addition made to the knowledge of
our viticulturists.
RESULTS OF PRACTICAL TRIALS.
As rule, the California wine
grower is man of liberal views and
great enterprise. The representative
men of the different sections of the
State, have the wise custom of visit