Report of the ViticuUural Expert. 87o 



REPORT OF THE VITICULTURAL EXPERT. 



M. d'A. Bnruey. 



I liave the lionouv to report a,s follows upon the vintao-e at the 

 Viticultural Station and upon the present state of the wine trade : — 



The cellar arrangements here were, by no means, all that could 

 be desired, and there was much to be done before vintage in improv- 

 ing the plant and preparing casks to receive new wine. Picking was 

 carried out under favourable weather conditions which generally 

 benefited the quality of the wine throughout the State. The wines 

 made here are of the following types : — 



From the Shiraz Grape . . . . A full round export wine. 



Cabernet ,, .. .. A dry full wine of considerable style and 



character. 

 ,, Mataro ,, .. .. A tawny port of ordinary quality but excep- 



tional colour, made so as to produce a 

 marketable article from an inferior grape. 

 ,, Muscat ,, .. .. A sweet wine, clean and smooth. 



Aramon & Cariquam Grape A thin characterless wine. 

 ,, Pedro .. •• ■■ A sweet wine full of character. 



Riesling .. •• ,, A heavy dry wine with slight sherry flavour. 



Gouais .. •• ,, A dry wine of no particular character, 



White Hermitage .. ,, A light delicate table wine of some promise. 



,, Anearat and Ivanhoe ,, A wine approaching a Sauterne, purposely not 



allowed to ferment out dry so as to watch 

 the effects of subsequent pasteurisation. 



The whole vintage was fermented with an imported Algerian yeast, 

 and although the result was most satisfactory, next vintage I wish to 

 experiment with other yeasts, as in this connection there is a wide 

 field for improving the quality of the v/ines by the use of yeasts 

 suited to the local conditions of soil and climate. The red wines 

 were fermented in the ordinary way, with submerged false heads, 

 except the Mataro, which was fermented without the skins so as to 

 obtain the desired pale colour. 



The white musts were all pumped from the press into open vats, 

 and before fermentation had commenced, were skimmed and pumped 

 off their lees into casks, when taunin was added and fermentation 

 allowed to proceed. The wine made after the Sauterne type had the 

 fermentation checked by sulphuring, and in the case of the Pedro, 

 by the addition of spirit. At four months old the white wines are 

 quite bright, and the red wines almost so without filtering or fining. 

 A filter is badly needed in a properly equipped cellar, particularly 

 where pasteui-isation is intended, and the want of one has prevented me 

 from carrying on this year experiments with unfortified sweet wines of 

 low alcoholic strength. I am about to pasteurise all the unfortified 

 wines in the cellar, noting what results may be obtained if they are 

 then allowed to mature unracked. It would be of value to know 

 what saving, in handling, can be obtained by this method. I have 

 sent ] hhd. of dry red wine and 1 hhd. of dry white wine for 



