The morning call., 1893-09-24

instances in the Eas-, and TO a certain ex-
tent in San Francisco itself, the better
wines Of California are solo under foreign
labels, and the poorer ones are sold as gen.
ulne California wines. This is rascally
practice for which there can be no excuse
that will not apply to an>> other kind of
fraud-as that the ublic Ne fools and
must be accommodated aecol olIing to their
foolis5ness. There are dsTers in New
York, and doubtless else-rfe. who make
this fine business. Tlws1 import large
quantities Of California WINES and handle
them in the rear of their cellars, and they
60 out at the front door as superb foreign
brands.
The proof of this is OF far to find. Thou
sands and thousands Of empty wine cases
arrive in this country from abroad with
characteristic wine marks and lettering.
Chateau" this or that, containing empty
bottles properly stamped or shaped, with
the appropriate labels and stamped corks.
These bottles are filled with California
wines, the foreign corks are used as well
as capsules and labels, and then the public
know from box, Dottle and all other out
ward embems of deception that they are
Quaffing the hooks of the Rhine, the Rudes-
hrimer of the Vosges, the clarets and bur
gund IS of France. The Lachryma Christi
of Italy, the TOkay OF Hungary, and pro.
nounce them unsuTpaSsable in a country
so raw as California or so immature as
OHIO.
So much for the judgment of the uafor-
tunate who believe in labels. and are duly
confirmed in their failh by anscrupulous
manipulators. Under the law as it stands
there is no evasion Of the merchandise
marks requirements. Such dummy i'm
ports are only too truly made abroad and
come from abroad properly authenticated.
The fraud consists ia filling the bottles
with Californian or other native wine,
and palming that off as foreign also. 1t is
good wine and, therefore, no disgrace to
the foreign country, but the credit for the
bottles should go abroad. ana the credit
for the wine should stay at nome. Our
delegation in Congress could do no better
service TO the wine trade of this country
than by procuring the passage of egisla-
tion which would end this practice. To
state the facts is to state case for relief
1t would be help TO home industry far
and beyond mere tariff tinkering and
wouldStrike a blow at the impOstor-Iike
pretensions of many foreign wines. The
dealers who perform this trick pocket the
unholy gains which come from charging
the price of imports for home commodity.
The bottles mostly come from Germany
and France; and Hamburg, as the center
from which comes spurious spirits and
wines and essences for every description
of potable imitation, is head aud chief in
the offending in this vile traffic. But then
Hamburg would not go into the trade un-
false cases. false bottles and all the rest of
the false paraDhernala.
The production of fine brandies is an
art which may rise to great Importance in
California, there being abundance of wine
available. while brandy-tamOus countries
Ike France have little wine 10 spare, and
the finer qualities OF the spirit are very
dfficult to procure and very dear. The
industry will soon assume new phase
A company has been Incorporated with
100000 capital to work the Howden
process Of distilling brandy from wine.
ana Will have its headquarters in San
Francisco. This process is said to Weld
spirit which comes nearer to the finest
French qualities than any otEer yet de-
vised by tne vitjcuItural chemist Prices
uf brandy are fair at present, as much as
SI4 a case being obtained, and doubtless
more for sDecial qualities. Contrast this
with Hambnrg Draudy sometimes heard ef
at 50 easel
Wine has very great range of price
according to age and condition. Tn, New
| Orleans shipments run from Is cents: GAL
| low naked, without cOoperage, 20 "a cents
inclusive. Better qualities are demanded
in New York and Chicago and the prices
! rise materially--in bottle from So case to
| So, and champagne from S14 so To Sl7:
and woOd 80 to 70 cents and 81 aud over
| per gall4n. and even So a gallon for extra
! qualities.
A time must come when the classifjca-
| ton of wines will be by districts rather
| than by varieties of grape, as is the gem
eral rule in Europe. TO the grower cf
grapes tue market presents many fluetu-
! ations.
From $40 to SO 90 per ton was paid last
year. according 10 quality and availability
/ for wine-makiDg in good situation. This
year the crop has not been gathered. ami
/ 1t is not unlikely prices Will be lower than
the above quotation. From two To three
tons are all that some land produces per
acre, but from six to eight and Ten tors