874 Agricultural Journal of Victoria. 



storao-e in the Government Cool Stores. By the courtesy of 

 Mr. J. Knight, the wines are being kept at a constant temperature 

 of ob degrees Fahr. The effect of the prolonged influence of cold 

 will be subsequently investigated. 



I have at the request of growers visited numerous cellars and have 

 tasted samples representing about \h million gallons of wine. 

 Cellars are generally well stocked, and the quality of the 1904 

 vintage is generally iiuich above the average. Trade is at present 

 dull, and sales are difticult, and the outlo(»k is not a very promising 

 one in view of the probability of anotlier large vintage. In many 

 cellars there is a lack of methodical management, and even ordinary 

 care and cleanliness, which annually Cause a loss of wine out of all 

 proportion to the quantity produced. This, together with a want 

 of uniformity of sample, is a great deterrent to trade, especially 

 owing to the difficulty buyers experience in obtaining repeat orders 

 u|) to sample from the producers. As the production at present 

 exceeds both local requirements and the export market, the opening 

 up of further outlets is badly needed. The excise duty of Is. per 

 proof gallon on wine spii'it used in fortifying, effectively prevents the 

 export of sweet wines. With cheaper spirit our sweet wines could 

 well compete in the London market both in quality and price with 

 the same class of wines from Spaii} and Portugal. It would be of 

 benefit if a drawback could be obtained on sweet wines exported, 

 etiuivalent to tlio duty paid on the spirits added. 



The brandy trade is not the back bone to the industry that it ought 

 to be, mainly through grain and potato spirits, which cost far less to 

 produce, being allowed to be labelled and sold as brandy. It is an 

 anomaly that only a pure wine spirit bearing a lieavy duty, viz., 

 25 per cent, ad valorem can be used for fortifying wine, and thereby 

 ])reventing a remunerative export trade, while a brandy goes into 

 direct consumption as such, although in reality it is often a 

 grain spirit sweetened and flavoured. Latterly the bulk of the 

 spirit used for this ]iurpose im|)orted iiito Victoria is from the refuse 

 of the sugar cane, and is distilled in New South Wales and Queens- 

 land, and obtained at such a low price that Victorian grain and 

 potato distillers have had to shut down. 



The majority of the vineyard stills answer their requirements 

 fairly well, though recently I had occasion to alter one that was of 

 somewhat defective construction, and it now exhausts 500 gallons of 

 wine in eight hours, instead of fourteen hours, and a strength of 

 65 O.P. is obtainable instead of 58 O.P. In the larger wine distilleries 

 the stills are much behind the times, but at the present moment, 

 (iwing to the abovementioned competition, there is little iuducement 

 for systematic brandy production. 



