CALIFORNIA WINES UNDER THEIR OWN FLAG. 



are matters of complete ignorance to the original handler. It is a common 

 expression for an Easterner visiting California to exclaim, "why, we are 

 never able in the East to obtain California wines like those even offered, 

 included with a meal, at the restaurants, let alone those which are freely 

 met with bottled under brands locally well known in California." 



This condition of affairs must be altered before California wines in the 

 great consuming markets of the East can become fashionable at the best 

 tables and take the position their initial quality deserves alongside the best 

 foreign vintages. 



Steps by influential and responsible concerns are now being taken in 

 this direction and within a year or two earnest and concerted efforts will 

 undoubtedly be made to place California bottled wines in their true light 

 before the American people. 



The marketing of bulk wines for many years continues to be the most 

 important branch of the California wine business, for the population which 

 relies upon wine for a beverage must continue to receive it through the 

 hands of convenient local distributing houses at a price which will en- 

 courage its greater consumption just as in Europe the local market is vastly 

 more important to the industry than the smaller quantity of selected vin- 

 tage which is consumed by the wealthy. 



But attention must also be paid to that large class which is patriotic 

 enough to prefer domestic wine and willing to pay an adequate price when, 

 in comparison to foreign wines, its quality has been duly demonstrated. 



California Wines Under Their 



Own Flag. 



CHARLES BUNDSCHU 



THE great difficulty of creating for the wines of the Golden State an 

 acknowledged recognition of superiority may be attributed to a con- 

 siderable extent to the fact that they are not always traceable as 

 sailing under their own flag. We know, and the statistics can easily 

 verify the fact, that millions of gallons are shipped annually to the 

 great trade centers of this continent, and yet comparatively speaking, 

 we don't meet California wines in our travels as frequently as the volume of 

 our shipments would warrant. There still exists an indefinable prejudice 

 against the use of wine at a dinner table in the United States, and if wine 

 is used at all, preference is given to European brands. This naturally 

 stimulates the desire on the part of many of the distributers of California 

 wines to utilize our selected vintages to represent foreign wines, thereby 

 netting considerably higher financial returns than the truthful and honest 

 denomination of their origin could possibly accomplish. Many so-called 

 connoisseurs drink only the label — at least their verdict is seriously in- 

 fluenced by high-sounding outward indications. They revel over a bottle 

 of Chateau Margue, Sauterne or Johannisberg, and would often sadly fall 

 by the wayside if they knew the true and unsophisticated reality in connec- 

 tion with the product. As long as the wine is good, pure and healthful, no 

 harm is done, except to the purse of the would-be connoisseur, and he 

 generally can afford to pay for his ignorance. But on the other hand in all 

 these instances the merits of the well selected superior California product 

 fails to obtain the credit to which it would be fully entitled, while the cheap 

 every day — hand-to-mouth — minimum wines (forming about eighty per 

 cent of our shipments) are best known on account of their cheapness, and 

 the general estimation in which they are held goes hand in hand with their 

 monetary valuation. 



The main difficulty lies in the intricate hardship connected with the 



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