Tenth Annual Meeting 145 



yield a higher degree of alcohol and make the wine much 

 better, giving it stronger keeping qualities and bouquet, also 

 higher price on the market. Green Mountain, of Stephen 

 Hoyt's Sons, of New Canaan (Conn.) has shown as much as 

 seventy -four degrees on said "must scale," and is a good 

 "Sauternes" grape. 



Should I know the real amount, in gallons, of wines made in 

 our state, you would not believe it, but I can safely state that in 

 Meriden and its immediate neighborhood there are thousands 

 made every year, not sweet wines, but regular "clarets." We 

 have a large class of "sons from sunny Italy" who have brought 

 to their adopted country the same habits of thrift and economy, 

 buying up the land on the well-exposed slopes of "West Peak," 

 and planting same with the strong-growing Concords and 

 Wordens, Niagaras and Diamonds, and turning into wines their 

 crops. Some of them have in their cellars from ten to twenty 

 barrels of the wholesome beverage, which they dispose of during 

 the year. 



I do not speak here of the regular vineyards planted in several 

 parts of the state where the fruit is turned entirely into wine, 

 either red or white, yielding thousands of gallons every vintage 

 and finding a ready market from season to season, hardly leaving 

 any old wines on hand. 



Now, as to quality, I would say it is good; but with bettei 

 care, better grapes and a proper knowledge of fermentation, we 

 could produce a far higher quality. We want high -class wines! 

 Others cannot, will not, or do not make. We can, will and do 

 make them. 



"Higher and better" ought to be our aim if we wish and 

 expect to impress the connoisseurs with "Connecticut -grown 

 wines." 



There are dozens of ways to produce pure and wholesome 

 wines, but probably only one way which is absolutely the best 

 way. This is: high quality and perfectly ripe grapes; the 

 stemming process; the crushing and a good and well-regulated 

 fermentation in closed fermenting vats; but above all absolute 

 and thorough cleanliness in the operations, lest the young wine 

 gets defective. Fermentation on the husks for "clarets" not 

 lasting over five or six days, and forty-eight hours for "port," 



