DISTILLING COGNAC FROM SUGAR AND GRAPE 

 JUICE. 



By Dp. JOSEPH LAUTERER. 



[_Read before the Royal Societi/ of Queensland, Maij 18, 1895.] 



If the views contained herein were practically carried out, great 

 benefit to Queensland would result. I have made experi- 

 ments which established the undoubted fact that Queensland 

 could be made the great emporium of the whole world for the 

 export of really good cognac, and then for the production of all 

 kinds of wine, brandy, and liqueur. As I have been intimately 

 acquainted with wine-making all my life, and have visited all 

 the wine -producing countries in Europe, every confidence can be 

 placed in my suggestions. A first-class wine can be produced 

 here, as the climate and the soil of Australia are thoroughly 

 adapted to the different varieties of the vine. Southern Queens- 

 land has a climate to be compared with that of Madeira and 

 Tenerifte, where wine of the finest quality is produced. Eeally 

 good wine of course is made from fermented grape juice only ; 

 white, when separated from the skins at once ; red, when 

 allowed to stand on the crushed grapes for some days. It then 

 contains from 10 to 17 per cent, of alcohol and more or less 

 extract, which gives the agreeable taste to the wine. If there is 

 much extract the wine is called heavy ; if little, it is called a 

 light wine. A heavy wine with much alcohol is fiery ; a light 

 wine containing much alcohol is called spirituous or generous. 

 Fiery wine can only be produced by fermentation of pure grape 

 juice ; a generous or spirituous wine can be obtained from grape 

 juice mixed with a watery solution of cane sugar. A great deal 

 of the wine produced at present in Queensland belongs to the 



