The record-union., 1893-11-13
PRAISE FOR STATE WINES.
What They Were at the White
City.
An Important Report Rendered to
the British Royal Com
mission.

mission.
There has just been received in this city
a report on the brandies and wines OF
California by an eminent English expert.
The report is of the greatest possible IN
terest to California producers, as the
wines and brandies of the State have sell
dom received such discriminating praise.
1t is not tlattery, and when the expert
thinks that all is not as it should be he
says so very plainly.
The wines and brandies in question
were exhibited at the Worlds Fair, every
producer of prominence in the State en-
tering the competition. The expert was
Charles Z. Oldham, who made his report
to the British Royal Commissioners with
view particularly to the introduction OF
California wines and brandies into Eng
land. That report has not yet been acted
upon by the British Commission, but
will be in London. A plan is now out
lined to send samples of the wines and
brandies experted to London for the ben
eft OF the Royal Commission.
The following wines and brandles were
submitted to the expert for examination
$40 samples comprising products from
tittv- three different individuals ana
firms, classified as follows:
Dry white wInes-SiXty-four samples
Rhenish, iorty-eight samples Sauterne,
eleven samples white Burgundy, six
samples miscellaneous.
Dry red wines-Thirty samples Medoc,
twenty-four samples Burgundy, fifty
three samples miscellaneous clarets.
Sweet or fortified wines-Twenty-n nine
| -. lnc G
thirty-nine samples miscellaneous.
Sparkling wineS-five samples de-
scribed as fermented in bottles, according
to the French methods of champagne
making.
Brandies-Forty-o samples of vari
ous makes aud ages.
The main features of the report, under
the main heading of general characteris-
tics and under the separate headings re-
queSted OF the expert, are as follows:
"First-Evidences of purity.-From
careful examination | feel convinced that
all the samples submitted to me were
perfectly juice OF the grape, fermented or
distilled in a legitimate manner, without
the use of the foreign substance. favors
or essences.
"Second-lndication of Intelligent SUI
pervision of the primary operations of
| fermentation and distillation.-I was par
ticularly struck with the excellent man
ner in which nearly all white wines seem
to have been fermented. The majority of
the red wines show also that they must
! haveibeen well cared for IN this particu-
lar. With regard to the brandies, nearly
the whole of them appear to have been
we'll and carefully distilled.
Standardization of methods of ma
! turing and preparing for bottling.-M ost
of the white wines have undou btedly
been we'll and carefully matured in WOOD,
/ but few, | am led to think, must hNve
been left too long in casks or kept i'll a
hot and dry cellar the consequence being
they are of rather too deep color and have
slightly sherry taste. Probably nearly
ali these wines were good wines when
first made, and the defects which soma Of
them now show may be attributed to
faults in maturing while III wood.
'Some of the white wines had evidently
an excess OF albumen when they were
bottled. as eviuced by the deposits
thrown. A large number were, however,
brought into excellent condition for bot
tling and have III consequence kept per-
! tectly brilliant.
- am inclined to think that nearly all
the red wines must have been good when
young, and probably for year after
ward, and that the defects now evinced
by some of them are due to the want of
good, cool underground cellarage, where
an even temperature can be maintained,
or to having been kept in large vats.
With these few exceptions the red wine
shows great merit, and many Of those
classified under Medoc types are really
very excellent.
"Fourth-Evidence of skill in bottling.--
By far the greater majority OF the samples
submitted showed that great care had
been taken in this important particular.
In few cases | found that the dry red
and white wines had not been filled as
close to the corks as, in my opinion, Is
desirable.
Fifth Evidences ofcritical knowledge
in the classification OF wines, as shown
by names adopted to describe various
types.-As "a -rule California wine pro-
ducers seemed to have aimed at following
the European types as closely as possible
and as they grow European varieties of
grapes almost exclusively they describe
their wines accordingly; that is to say a
wine made from Sauterne grapes is de-
scribed by them as being of fjauterne
type, and so on. In some instances, how
ever, sufficient care does not seem to
have been exercised in this matter.
"Sixth-Styles of bottles, labels, etc.
The European style of bottle has most
generally been used; for instance, wines
described as of claret type, have been put
into French claret bottles, Burgundy
into ordinary French Burgundy bottles,
!
Sauterene into the white French bottle.
Among the port sherry, brandy and
sweet-wine types, this uniformity has not
been equally maintained. In some in
stances the bottles have been nicely got
up, bearing neat plain labels. capsules
! being generally used, although in few
cases wax has been put in their place.
II would here remark that it must be
| born in mind that these criticisms are
| based upon standards OF quality. such as
would, think, be most likely to find IA
vor in the British market. 1t is quite
probable, however, that in the American
! markets such criticisms might not at ali
! apply.
II think it right to mention that was,
to some extent, aided in my examination
of these wines by the fact that nearly all
the wine districts in California are well
! known to me and that l have for some
years now been making a careful study
| of their produce. The wines of Califor-
| MIA must not be confounded with other
American wines made east of the Rocky
Mountains, where, l believe, nothing but
native vines are grown.
"In California, owing to the suitable
soil and beautiful climate, all the finest