Amador ledger., 1900-08-10
California Wines At PARIS
Hon. W. q. Mills on Their
Disadvantages.
METHOD OF JUDGING The WINES BY JURIES
Possible That California Wines May
Re Re-examined Upon Quality
Regardless of Labels,
METHOD OF JUDGING The WINES BY JURIES

The San Francisco Gail of August 4th
contained the following interesting and
instructive letter from Hon. VIM. Ii.
Mills, director of the Southern Pacific
Company's exhibit at the Paris Expo
sition:
To the Editor Of the Call; In your
issue of July lst fnd very able and
very thoughtful editorial on the sub
jeCt Of the treatment which the Cali
fornia wine exhibit has received at the
hands Of the jury of award. You state
the facts with accuracy when you say
that California wines, bearing French
labels. were denied the right of compe-
tition,, and you draw correct inferences
as to the deleterious effect of this de-
cision upon the reputation of our wines
in the commercial world. The declara-
tion goes forth as "a sweeping denuncia-
tlon OF the entire California wine pro-
duct. 1t is the equivalent of declaring
that California does not make wine,
but that it is engaged in the practice of
counterfeiting the wines made by other
countries; that the wine of California
is not natural product OF its soil and
its climate; that these soils and climates
are not adapted to viticulture; hence
the viticulturists are simply counter
feitlng the products OF other countries,
falsifying the types of wines in France
and feloniously labelling this counterfeit
production with we'll established brands
in order TO give these limitations accept
ance at the hands of the commercial
world.
While your inferences are accurately
drawn, your conclusions justifiable,
your condemnation of the iuries of
award is somewhat more severe than
the facts of the case warrant.
The juries had before them the wines
of various clessihcations. For illustra.
ton, the Burgundy wine of California
was placed beside the Burgundy wines
of France. a member of the jury who
is resident of the Burgundy district,
France, said that the Burgundies from
California were good wines, palatable
and sound. He himself liked them and
used them, but they were not the true
Burgundy type. If>they had been pre-
sented as California wines, if the labels
had been declaration of the facts
without the possibility of deception, if
the appearance Of counterfeit and imi-
tation had been absent, the wines
would have been considered on their
merit. They were not presented as
California wines, but as Burgundy
wines
This objection applies to all the wines
from California bearing French labels
and placed on exhibition under French
names. 1t is true these labels declared
them to be a California product, but at
the same time it declared them TO be
wine, not California wine,
Burgundy type"
Suppose fruit, the varieties of which
had originated in California, was placed
on exhibition at the Pan American Ex-
position next year at Buffalo. Suppose,
further, that this fruit, bearing u Cali
fornia name San Jose, Vacaville, Los
Angeles or Riverside, declaring itself
to be San Jose fruit, Vacaville fruit or
fruit, and further declaring
itself to be from the same specific orch
ard, from these places, which, in fact,
had been grown in New Jersey, South
America or Canada, and of inferior
quality to the fruit of California.
Would the people Of California endure
with patience this counterfeit presenta-
tiou? In the markets of the world the
genuine California fruit and its imita-
tion would stand together. The con.
sumer would confound these names,
oblivious to the fact that tho name of
the inferior fruit had been adopted
merely because the fruit resemb bled in
type that raised in California. It is
obvious that these fruits would stand
related to each other before a jury of
award as genuine and counterfeit.
One would be real and the other an
imitation. The California variety would
be the original brand, seeking to estab-
lish itself throughout the world upon
its merit. The other would be the
same brand covering inferior goods and
injurious to the reputation of the brand
itself.
If oranges were exposed for sale in
New York, Rome, Cuba and Florida,
ssp0q the package containing which
was inscribed "Riverside Navels, that
would be d highly different inscription
from the declaration that these oranges
resembled Riverside navels, Or belonged
To that type. In the first instance, if
tbay were inferior, they would injure
the braud, In the SECOND instance, the
Inscription would pay tribute to the
OF the brand initiated,
The member of the jury Of award
from the Burgundy district, already
quoted, declared that if the labels upon
ti.sa wines had been removed and in the
absence of aames numbers had been
used, as for instance, california wine,
Burgundy type, No. 12," tbs vine
would have been permitted TO compete
upon Its merit,
AS it is, a jury Of award in tourna-
mcnt as broad as the productive capac-