302 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF VITICULTURE 



Many of you remember how your former president, Mr. Percy T. Morgan, 

 spent years in selecting choice wines and had them given the most careful 

 and watchful care, then had them bottled and stored away in one of your 

 cellars here in San Francisco, to age in the bottle, when your dreadful fire 

 destroyed all of his years of labor. That was one of the greatest calamities 

 that ever visited the California wine business, as he intended to distribute 

 these choice wines in the large cities, in wine stores, not saloons. This is 

 what we have been doing for years. 



I wish to quote a few extracts from the official report of Cav. Guido 

 Rossati, Minister of Agriculture and Horticulture, who spent several years 

 in America under pay of the Italian government, to report on the grape grow- 

 ing and wine making of America. 



"I was surprised at the fineness of two types, which I must confess I 

 never expected to find in wines made from American grapes. One is a Bur- 

 gundy, eight or ten years old, made from Cynthiana grapes, the equal of 

 which I never found in any part of the United States. The other is a Port, 

 greatly superior to those produced in any other part of the United States. 



"By the most careful and strict cleanliness in the fermentation, wine 

 making and technical operation, and by long aging of their product, thus 

 helping and not coercing nature, or substituting artificial means, which ex- 

 perience has proved of limited benefit and not desirable. 



"They have in a special way the merit of having succeeded in making 

 fine and delicate wines from American grapes, which is greatly to their 

 honor and credit. To this they came by a very careful and wise choosing 

 of vineyard cultivation of grapes. 



"Besides these types they produce exquisite white wines of Rhine, 

 Moselle and Sauterne type, also Clarets, Burgundy, Sweet Wines and Unfer- 

 mented Grape Juice. 



"I found their Superior Old Port delightful. It has several great advan- 

 tages over other Ports. It has a brighter color and it can stand aging better. 

 This wine compares favorably with some of the very best wines of the Douro 

 Valley in Spain." 



Some of our Eastern wines are improved by blending with a little Cali- 

 fornia wines; not all, but some. There are few large wine cellars in the 

 East which do not use some California wines for blending, and right here I 

 wish to state that the time is not far off when you gentlemen will require 

 some of our Eastern wines to blend for the highest types of wines you will 

 produce. 



It was our privilege only a month ago, at one of our monthly luncheons, 

 to drink some white and red wines which Mr. Morgan had bottled before the 

 fire, and I want to state that they would grace the table of any gentleman. 

 Make such wines and then ask a price to justify the expense and you will 

 have a great market. 



In conclusion let me extend to you the hand of fellowship and let the 

 East and West come closer together with confidence, not distrust or jealousy, 

 but for the uplifting and honor of our industry. 



