The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-10-27
Connecticut As
 A Vineyard State
Industrious Italian Farmers Max
 ing Wine
Hartford Courantl

Hartford Courant.)
 There are indications that Connec- ticut may become a wine growing
 state and that the grapevine seal will
 have new significance. Some of the l Italian brethren who dearly love the l beverage are starting vineyards, not only for their own wine supply, but
 as commercial venture. Down Ber- lin and Merfden way there are exten-
 slve vineyards, and every place where
 the natives of Italy have become es- | tablished in fruit growing they are l apt to have a few vines.
 Pasquale M. O'Esopo, the Italian banker, is the one in this immediate neighborhood who has launched out in- 1 to the wine making business. He has farm in Marlborough. MT. DEsopo has seventy acres under cultivation
 for the raising of grapes. The grapes
 have already been harvested this year.
 The project has been under way for
 three years. MT. D'Esopo sent to Italy and got a manager of vine
 yard there to superintend the work here. The manager is Joseph Sena and the vineyard of which he had charge was in the province of Avel-
 lima in the vineyard district of south ern Italy. The harvest this year was
 not enough to warrant the wine being
 put on the market, but by next year
 the business should be in full swing
 The grapes which are being raised
 are Concords. It is the intention of
 MT. DEsopo to sell the best of his
 crop to the fruit dealers and use the
 'Ieft-overs' for the wine. The Con-
 cord grapes are not dissimilar from
 the grapes raised in Italy.
 Local fruit dealers at this time of
 the year can sell all the grapes that
 they get. to Italians who wish to
 make wine. One wholesale dealer has
 sold fifteen carloads of grapes. A
 carload will hold fifteen tons. They. come in twenty pound baskets One family of four brothers has bought ten tons of the grapes, the cost be- ing in the neighborhood of $4O0. One ton will make from 115 to 12O gallons of wine. As the wine is making, more is added from time to time, and Ital- ians who have already bought their supply are glad to get fresh grapes The grapes, which are Concords, come from the extensive vineyards in New York state.
 Vineyards in New York have become a feature of the landscape. An Ital- ian Wine Association in New York city has a number of viReries in the state. At Penn Tan, champagne is made, and the subcellars there, where the cham pagne is stored. constitute one of the oases in the lives of commercial trav- elers. Delaware and Catawba grapes are used for champagne.
 Mr. D'Esposo was asked if thereS were other Italian farmers beside him. self in the state who were engaged in the vineyard business. He said that he knew of none with the exception of two or three in Berlin, Meriden and possibly Southington, who were in the business. Italian farmers raise orr>or r1oc n a as a side line to their regular farm ing. The Carini Brothers of Glaston- bury, the peach growers, have thrifty vineyards, but they put up the wine for their own use. MT. D,Esopo has planted 5000 peach trees the past sea son on his farm in Marlborough, but 1 it is intended as a grape growing | farm, primarily. MT. DEsopo has been at work now three years without | any return for his work, but he sees no reason why the farm should not l pay eventually.
 The status of wine as far as the laws of the United States are con- | cerned is practically the same as that of cider. Wine can be made and sold by the maker without a license. Tn California grapes are raised for the l making of wine, and 1t was in the i interests of the industry in that state that wine was put on the same basis 1 as clOeT. IT the grape JuIce Is dlS- i tiled and made into brandy, a license !! must be secured. as in the case of ci- | der brandy. The wine which the Ital- | ians use is not distilled. The Unitel 1 States internal revenue office here has issued no license for the sale of the | Italian wine which is made in this | state, as none of it is distilled.
 The grape industry in California is | rapidly increasing. The wine that is | distilled has such a similarity to the | imported wines that the difference is | hard to detect MT. D'Esopo said that | the grapes grown here are practical | ly the same as those grown in Italy, and it was his aim to make his wine | of as good a quality as is that of | Italy. The fruit dealers who are bring l ing the grapes here by the carload said that the Italians used the wine for themselves alone, and that they could not sell without a license The | idea that they can not sell without a | license is erroneous. The four broth CTS who paid $400s for ten tons of, grapes are probably well posted on the law, and it is to be hoped that theya sold some of the 1900 gallons that | this represents, rather than compel their families to consume the entire