lo Feb., 1910.] The Wine Industry in Southern France. 77 



where it is not, or imperfectly known. Formerly, England, without vines cr 

 colonies producing (winej sought, for her wealthy classes . . . those not wishing 

 to take to whisky . . . the fortified wines of Spain and Portugal. Later .-.n, 

 Clarets, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Hermitage, were more and more appreciated; but 

 these are all superior wines — expensive beverages de luxe — and only accessible 

 to rich people. But, to-day, England has her colony Australia which can, and 

 ought, to produce for her (if she wishes it) popular wine, wine for the masses, the 

 most natural liquid form of food, preferable in every way to all others. 

 And if she wished it, Australia could, at a profit, as well as we can (and batten) 

 offer to her own population and afterwards to all English speaking people on the 

 surface of the earth, good wine ... of from g deg. to 10 deg. (15.8 to 17.5 

 per cent, proof) at 30 fr. the hecto of 22 gallons . . . say 2d. per bottle; 

 since we sell it here, at 15 fr. the hecto, with profit to the producer at the present 

 moment." 



It will be seen that the point of view, frora which the whole wine 

 question is regarded in France, differs radically from that from which it 

 is usually, or perhaps more correctly, often considered in Australia, but 

 it must be repeated that the above only applies to very light wine which, 

 as is frequently said in French, ne fatigue ni la tete ni V estomac (fatigues 

 neither the head nor the stomach) wine varying from 14 per cent, to 

 17 1. of proof spirit, and taken with meals. 



The French view of the question has been very clearly stated in the 

 valuable paper read bv M. L. Roos, director of the CEnological Station of 

 Herault before the International Congress of Applied Chemistry held in 

 London, in 1909, entitled, Le Vin Dans L' Alimentation (wine as food). 



* '■> >|: * * 



Would the production of such wine be possible in Victoria? Would it 

 pay? These are questions which will doubtless be asked. To the first, 

 the answer is decidedly in the affirmative. All that is necessary is to 

 grow the Southern French varieties — we have them here now (several for 

 many years) — on suitable soil and to train them, and treat their fruit as is 

 done in their native Midi. 



As regards the second question, there is less certainty, for we are not 

 a wine drinking people, and any change in the habits of a country must 

 come gradually. This much, however, may be confidently affirmed — that 

 Australians can never become large constnners of wine until some such 

 light type is placed within their reach at a low price. In Spain, Portu- 

 gal, and Italy we find the same state of affairs as in France. It is only 

 very^ light, rapidly maturing wines which can possibh' become the every- 

 day drink of a people, and this for the two reasons of wholesomeness' and 

 low cost. There is no reason to fear that the consumption on a large 

 scale, of wine of this type, would interfere in any way with our present 

 wine industry. The high class wines' we now produce are something 

 quite apart from \in ordinaire. Thev are partaken of only on rare 

 occasions, seeing that our average consumption per head is little more than \ 

 gallon per year. With a light common wine in much more general use,' 

 the occasions on which something better would be required would' become 

 more frequent, and the demands for the types we now produce would 

 correspondinglv increase — wines, manv of which have been abundantly 

 proved to be of a high order of merit. 



The difficultv of handling wine of this type must not be lost sight 

 of ; its low alcoholic strength renders it very liable to acetification, and 

 trouble will doubtless be experienced at first, especiallv in connexion with 

 retailing from bulk. Even now. drv wines containing at least \ more 

 alcohol, often suffer from ignorance and carelessness of retailers, which 

 result in the wine going "off." There is no doubt, however, that this 

 difficultv can be overcome, and with careful handling wines of under i5 



