I30 AEW SO cm WALES. 



For a parallel to tlie present state of tlie wine trade^ let us look to 

 tlie butter industry a few years ago compared A\dtli its jDresent pros- 

 perous condition, and we shall find that the remedy for the wine trade 

 lies in the same direction. 



Practical Suggestions in Remedy. 



The first step in reform will be the establishment of a ^^ winery" in 

 each of our most important districts, either by co-operation or by 

 capital — preferably the latter, as it is desirable to have both the 

 vintages and export business under the same control. 



The small grower who cannot sell his wine with any degree of 

 regularity will find it far more to his advantage to sell grapes to the 

 winery for cash on delivery. He can then put his whole capital into 

 a certain venture. 



There is too great a difference between wine farming and wine makiug 

 for both to be successfully carried out by one and the same individual. 

 In a winery where machinery is used, and everything done on a 

 large scale, a better article can be produced at less cost than by the 

 small grower. 



A winery need not necessarily be very expensive at the outset, if 

 designed with a view to extension. The first requisite is an abundant 

 water supply. Choice of site should be given where a sloping bank 

 exists, rising, say 30 feet in 100 above the drainage outlet ; such a 

 rise from cellar floor to level of crushing mill will admit of performing 

 all the heaviest work by gravitation. If the natural slope cannot be 

 found, the height must be got by staging, although at an additional 

 cost. In this case the grapes would have to be hoisted to the level of 

 the sorting tables. The machinery employed in pumping water, must, 

 and wine, crushing, and separating, also the wine-presses should be 

 of the best quality, and designed for saving labour. Care and fore- 

 thought must be exercised in this, or economical working will not 

 result. 



Tlie fermenting house or cellar, if the slope of the ground admits, 

 should be placed at such a height that vats or presses may be filled 

 from trollies bringing* the mark from the crusher ; the floor on which 

 they stand should be sufficiently raised to enable the must to run by 

 gravitation into the fermenting casks from which it would be pumped 

 to the storage casks. 



In some districts, where the vintage is early and the climate hot, 

 refrigerating machinery may be necessary. This, however, would be 

 of the simplest make, as it would be only necessary to reduce the 

 temperature a few degrees ; consequently neither first cost nor working 

 expenses would be great. 



The principal object in establishing local wineries is to focus, or 

 bring together the whole product of the district into one wine — or in 

 technical phrase, " the vintage of the year." Of vintages there may 

 be several, red, white, or sweet, for instance, but the fewer classes of 

 wine attempted the better. 



In order that choice may be afforded in selecting wines suitable 

 for the general blend, a winery would be required in the far south ; 

 another in the limestone district of the Macquarie, another at Tarn- 



