Los Angeles herald., 1910-10-09
SHORTAGE FEARED
IN LIGHT WINES
Great Anxiety Felt Over Possible
Failure of French and
German Crops

LONDON, Oct. 8.-A wine famine
faces the world, and the lover of the
lighter French and German wines will
have to pay considerably more for
them within the next week or so.
There is always great anxiety at this
period as to the vintages of France
and Germany. OF those Of Portugal
and Spain we are generally pretty
sure, but in the case of the more
northerly countries there is always
considerable doubt as to whether the
vines will ripen. Last year, for ex-
ample, even so late in the season, it
was said and believed that there
would be no Bordeaux wines, but by
something like a miracle in the last
fortnight oe September there was a
period of brilliant sunshine and
warmth, the grapes about which there
had been so much anxiety ripened
and some very high-class wines that
are now making good prices were
produced. The Germans were cute
enough to secure the bulk of this
vintage, offering such inflated prices
that the English wine merchants were
beaten out of the field. This year,
however, German cuteness and enter
prise will be OF no avail. There are
no grapes to ripen.
AS reports received recently from
the wine fields have indicated, the in
cessant rains and cold winds have
spread disease among the grapes,
weakened as the vines have been by
a succession of bad summers, and
nearly the entire crop is ruined. The
position is as bad as this: From the
Bordeaux country we shall have less
than half of the usual supply of
clarets, as the wines here produced
can be broadly described; from lower
Burgundy there will be practically
none at all; of the famous Chablis. be-
loved of the oyster epicure, there is
only about one hundred hogsheads to
supply the whole world. OF what may
be described as the grand, classical
Burgundies, we shall only have an
eighth of the usual supply.
GROWERS RUINED
There will be little if any, 1910 cham
pagne. Many growers have been
ruined, as this is only the eliminating
point of a series of disasters which
have followed one another since the
summer of 1906. 1t is probably not a
matter of general knowledge that, In
the case of champagne, a period Of
four years elapses from the date of
vintage until 1t Is in a fit condition to
reach the consumer. That is the min
imum, and as there has been no Vint-
age since 1906, even should next sum
mer prove to be a favorable season,
the benefit cannot be experienced un-
til 1915 at the earliest. The worlds
consumption of champagne for a
period of nine years has, therefore, to
be met from the 1906 vintage. 1t is
something like an accurate estimate
that the worlds stock up to 1905 was
a hundred million bottles, and experts
say that that is absolutely inadequate
to meet the demand UP to 1915, and
champagnes accordingly will become
very dear. The position in regard to
German wines is even worse. The
wine fields of Germany, situated as
they are still further north, have suf-
fered most disastrously. For example,
the famous Rudesheimberg will not
produce any supply at all.
In these circumstances those who
have to pay higher prices for the
luxury or go without In these crises
other forms of beverage-spirits, for
example-get their chance. But there
is another alternative. There is the
prospect that the market will be
flooded with inferior wines and sub
stitutes. The enterprising trader who
foresaw this famine and laid in an
enormous stock for the benefit OF
thirsty humanity is sure to arise. AL
gerian wines, which can be, and are,
sold as French wines, will come here
in larger quantities than ever and,
what is worse, there will be a large
increase in the output of spurious
wine. This is generally manufactured
from "must," or concentrated grape
juice, sent over in large quantities
from Greece and admitted duty free by
benevolent government in the be-
lief that it is an element in the pro-
motion of temperance by being made
into non-alcoholic beverages. Often
enough unscrupulous manufacturers
bottle the stuff, add a little "Dutch
spirit" to fortify it and put 1t on the
market as "claret" at "a cents bottle.
1t thus escapes the attention of the
excise, except in so far as the spirit
used in it had paid duty.
There is another important aspect of
the shortage, and that is the oppor-
tunity it offers to the United States
and Australia to supply the deficiency.
Yt'a as easy to secure bargain in used
autonobpe through want advertising. as H