The Savannah morning news., 1902-07-18
WHAT WINE SHOULD COST.
1t ShouId he as Cheap as Beer or
Cider.

An English Consul I'm France Says
1t ShouId lie AS Cheap as Beer or
Cider.
From the London Standard
Mr.. Consul Hearn's report on the
trade and commerce of Bordeaux and
district for the year 1901 has just been
issued in the foreign office annual Sc
ries, and will be found of much inter-
est to wine merchants and claret drink
ers. Mr.. Hearn discusses the question
of obtaining in England a genuine
claret at a reasonable price. by the
aid of respectable wine merchant"
he says "it is generally possible to
get this for home consumption, but in
hotels, restaurants, and other public
places, even where IL Is possible to get
a genuine claret, it Is not possible to
pay reasonable price for 1t. l be-
lieve that good, sound, ordinary clar-
ct should be as accessible to every
body as beer. cider, or whisky. Leav-
ing the question of duties and excise
on one side, the initial cost Of produce
ton cannot differ very much, although,
of course, wine has to be kept consid-
erably longer than beer before IL is fit
for consumption, but then whisky
ought to be kept still longer. l find
a record of expenditure and receipts
per acre on vineyard producing a
fair bourgeois wine The general ex-
penses, which include cost of pur-
chase, opening up and planting OF
land, buildings, etc. Calculated at
thirty years purchase). work out at
G2 SIS. per acre per annum, the work.
ing expenses at Is 18s. Cd. per annum,
making a total annual expenditure of
6d no n or h
vineyard gave in 1899 4S0 gallons of
wine. which were sold in barrels on the
spot for e2S IS. 4d., thus leaving a
clear profit per acre of El6 les. 10d..
which does not support the complaint
that vineyard proprietors are ruined.
Now, the 4s0 gallons, which were sold
for ELS IS. Adj, work out at trifie over
Is. I'd. per gallon.
Although, with merchants expenses,
freight, and duty, the above sum does
not represent by long way the cost
of this wine delivered in the United
Kingdom, still l think IL shows that
such wine could be sold with a fair
profit at a fair price within the reach
of all. The Bordeaux wine growers
and merchants of old had the field all
to themselves, and, with little exertion
on their part, orders and money came
rolling in. and this habit became so
much their second nature. that, In
these days of keen competition. many
of them seem to be hardly awake to
the situation, and expect to make
profits on their wines on the same
scale as when they enjoyed a practi-
cal monopoly. They must now. how
ever, wake up to the fact that excel
lent table wines, In some respects re-
sembling claret. are pouring on to the
market from Australia, California, Cy-
prus, Italy, Russia, and Portugal, to
which will soon be added those of
South Africa and South America. 1t
is to be hoped that these new coun-
tries will plant in their vineyards only
the best kinds of European grapes and
leave the American vines alone. With
the great increase in the worlds wine
production, Bordeaux wine growers
and merchants must be content with
smaller profits than formerly, and rely
on the modern trade maxim, small
profits and quick returns" The enor-
nous masses of bottled wines lying in
the Bordeaux ''chais" as the cellars
are here called, are standing proof
either that the public will no longer
drink fine clarets or that 1t will not
pay the price asked"