The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-05-16
California Wines.

From the San Francisco Call
I'VE are a nation of wine drinkers
champagne drinkers. The Californian
who makes a light dry wine, such as
Will meet the prevailing and rapidly
growing demand. will make the great
est California fortune, a greater for
tune than any yet made. and limited
only by the resources of his vine
yards"
So said Chaunced NJ. Depew, only
just returned from an inspection of the
wineries of Napa valley. He was stand
ing under the blazing chandelier
dressed for dinner, full dress, shining
silk hat, Immaculate.
THE journey to-day up the Napa
valley had been a very interesting one
L have seen the vineyards and wineries
of France, and / know that California
has II in her to stop the import trade
In French wines to very marked de-
gree.
THE demand, as / say, is for light
wines. The habit of temperance is
growing. l can remember the time
when the drunken man on the street
was so frequent as to be not note
worthy. Now he is an unusual sight.
To drink and get tipsy at dinner was
quite the fashion.
The man who would be guilty of
such a thing at this day would lose
caste entirely. We dring champagne
as no other nation does Nor is il the
special beverage of the rich. No fire
brigade has a reunion without the
opening of champagne. When a baby
is christened, he is toasted in cham
payne. No prodigal returns except to
tell the story of his i'll fortunes over
a small bottle. Everybody drinks
champagne. but they insist upon it be-
ing light. STIMULATING as to the sparkle
and hzz. yet the percentage of alcohol
must be low.
Now that is what's the matter with
California wine. There is too much al
cohol in it. The soil is so rich that ii
makes sugar in the grapes, and the
sugar makes alcohol. The earlier ship
ments of wine were especially faulty in
this regard.
Now. this man whom I speak of.
who is to make the greatest California
fortune. will go a little higher up on
the hillsides than the vineyards of the
present are to be found: he will not
cultivate so deeply and he will not be
in such a hurry to get his wine upon
the market-he will give it tine hen.
he does this. his name will, after
awhile, be known everywhere, and only
the capacity of his vineyards will set
the limit to his income. This is ex-
actly what / believe. / have made a
study of these things. l go about with
my eyes open, and have been brought
IN touch with more wine drinkers and
wine drinking than most men, I am
hail fellow well met on the Bowery as
in the uptown clubs, and I know
something about these things. IT is
not because a wine is made in France
that it is called for. but because the
French wines are what the California
wines might be made. The French
wines, with their heavy duty, cost 81
a case and whereabouts. AS good wines
can be set down in New York-with
the treatment / speak of-for $40 a
case, can be sold for SIS a case. and
both manufacturer and dealer make as
much money as in handling French
wines.
I'VE have a champagne in the New
York market at that price, but every
body knows what IL is. 1t is made
within the borders of the state, out of
a white wine and carbonic acid gas.
Claret and white wines are made in
California fully equal to that bought
from Germany and France. / expect
to be able to say the same of California
before many years and
witness the supplanting of the foreign
article by the home product"
And so saying. Mr. Depew took the .
elevator and Joined the others of his
party at dinner-the fact that they 4
were waiting having been announced.