Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-11-23
WINE By THE SHIPLOAD.
CALIFORNIA WINES AT THE WHARF IN
NEW YORK.
Two Profits Made at the Ships Side
The Trade Increasing Steadily
Every Year.
From the New York STAR

unlOdQS Il Cargo Vi OdlIl0inld WluSS every
month. There are eighteen ships engaged
in this trade, and each brings at every
trip from four to nine thousands barrels of
wine, besides copper ore, logwood and the
canned products of the Pacific Coast.
Each cargo is. worth from S250,000 to
100000. In all about $1,000 barrels of
California wines are brought to this port
by sea every month. Some Of it is re-
shipped to Europe, some is distributed to
various other cities in the East, but the
greater part is consumed in and about
New York. The whole $4,000 barrels
contain about 100000 gallons of wine.
The trip from California is made around
Cape Horn in from ninety to one hundred
and ten days. A week is occupied in
loading at the California port and from
This trade, which has reached its great
est magnitude within the past FIVE years,
is controlled by less than half dozen
houses. One of these has cellars in Elm
street with a capacity of 5000 barrels and
storage capacity for 100000 gallons in
California. The wines are brought around
the Horn at from two to five years old.
Younger wines come in small quantities,
but are seldom satisfactory, because they
have not been properly fermented. The
older wines are improved by the sea
voyage.
The most important California wines
brought to New York are the red wines,
including the cheap Zinfandel, Macon,
Burgundy, and others nearly correspond
ing to various grades of foreign wines;
white wines, including sauternes and an
gelica, and various sweet wines, classed as
ports and sherries. Brandies are also
brought in. The expectations to Europe
are chiefly of the red wines, the sherries
and the brandies. 1t is denied that any
considerable quantity of California red
wines is shipped to France to be blended
with the Bordeaux wines. California port
cannot be sold in Europe in competition
with the better European products.
In some instances wholesale wine dealers
here order their wines directly from Cali
fornia, but for the most part they buy
through the local agencies of the great
wine houses of the Pacific coast. Whole
salers buy in lots of from Is to 1000 bar
rels. Some have standing orders with the
wine agents for from 80 to $50 barrels per
month. The wines are cheapest at the
ships side, because the agents do not care
to cart, stow and recart the goods. Here
is the way the selling is done: When
ship laden with wine comes in, the dealers
come down to the wharf and bargain for
the quantity they desire. Often a spe-
cially low offer from the wine agent
will cause a large speculative pHr-
chase. Of course, the wine reaches
the wharf shaken up and cloudy, but new
ertheless there is vast deal Of tasting on
the part of purchasers. The seller has
bung starter. a thin wooden mallet with
an elastic wooden handle. With this he
hammers quickly on each side of the bung,
and presently out it pops. A glass tube
inclosed in metal is then dipped into the
barrel, and a small quantity of the wine is
taken out for tasting, or "sampling." 1t is
easy to see from this whence came Richard
Grant Whites pet abomination, the
euphemism of Sample room" for drinking
saloon. When the wine is sold the whole
saler has the privilege of keeping it a
week at the wharf and re-selling it there
to the retailers. Much of it never leaves
the wharf until it is carted off to the Gel
lar of the last-named dealer. Thus two
sales take place at the ships side, and two
profits are made after it reaches this city
and before it is ready to be sold to con-
sumers. Of course, the third profit comes
in when the retailer sells it, and those who
think they get cheap California claret at
sixty and seventy-fve cents a gallon
would be little shocked to know for how
much less it is sold in bulk. In rare in
stances clubs and other large consumers
buy at first hand from the agents of the
WINE houses, but this practice is not liked
by the wholesalers.
When the wine agent is forced to store
the wine he clarifies it by one process or
another familiar to wine-dealers and in
two or three days gets it into such condi-
ton that it may be served to persons not
overfastidious. The processes of carting,
storing and clarifying add considerably to
the value of the wine, but the agents pre-
fer to forego the profit and sell at the ships
side. The return cargo of the wine-ships
is made up Of various articles, including
skins and flour and other manufactured
products. With good weather the reload
ing can be accomplished in week or ten
days, and the ship is off again to Cali
fornia. Barring accidents and stress of
weather a wine-ship can bring in three
cargoes every two years and have some
time to spare. The freight round the Horn
is about half the rate by rail, but a ship
can hardly make a profitable trip unless
its cargo each way is worth at least $780,
900. The trade only few years ago en-
ployed but five ships to the present
eighteen 1t is still steadily increasing.
This year the wine crop of California is
smaller than it has been for long time,
and dealers report the price of wines as
raising, though this years crop will not be
in market before 1891, and part of it per-
haps not until '92, 1913 or '94. Last. year
and the year before the wine crop was
enormous, and prices fell. This year it
has been found profitable to turn the grapes
into raisins Meanwhile the demand for
California wines here and abroad con-
stantly grows, and the dealers say that the
quality of the wine is improving. The
consumers in New York are hotels, the
French table d'hotes and many private
persons who have not learned to despise
native products and have not been rich