ORANGE CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 223 



PROOF OF THE PUDDING. 



I have made both red and white wine from foreign and Mis- 

 sion grapes, and Blaue Elba, Zinfandel and Berger will make at 

 least fifty per cent, more wine to the acre than the Mission 

 grape ; and in our trade in New York, Chicago and Boston the 

 wines made from the former grapes have brought, to draw it 

 mild, at least twice the price per gallon. Now this is the real 

 test the money test and there is no going behind that. Be- 

 sides this, the wines made from these foreign grapes keep sound 

 much better, with less care, and stand transportation better. It 

 is almost an impossibility to keep a Mission grape red wine to 

 three years old and not have it get sour. 



If we had a specialty in wines, which we have not, and un- 

 limited demand for that specialty, then it might do to confine 

 ourselves to that; but it would be "all our eggs in one basket 

 again." If, however, we can make all kinds of wine, or even 

 many kinds of wine, of good quality, it will be still better. We 

 now have a reputation for our sweet wines ; but go into the 

 markets where wines are bought in quantities and say, "I have 

 some hock or claret," then you will be asked where you are 

 from, and when told Los Angeles, you will be met by, "Why, 

 you can't make good dry light wines there; Napa and Sonoma 

 are the places to buy those." The only reason for this idea 

 arises from the fact that Sonoma and Napa were settled largely 

 by Germans and other foreigners, who planted foreign vines, 

 Colonel Haraszthy doing much to furnish them, and, conse- 

 quently, they made a light sub-acid wine, while here we were on 

 the outskirts of immigration, where we found old Missions and 

 old vineyards with but one variety of the grape, viz., the Mis- 

 sion. This grape had apparently every good quality, for was it 

 not the best eating grape we had ever tasted? As it was so rich 

 and so luscious to the taste, did it not follow that it would make 

 the best wine? This was my belief for a time, and when I saw 

 and tasted the Zinfandel I could not for a moment believe it the 

 equal of the mission. But some one suggested that the best 

 cider was made from crab-apples, and not the best eating apple. 

 There are those who contend that this climate is too warm to 

 make a light wine. Let me say to them that you can pick your 

 grapes earlier, pick them before they are overripe, and you will 

 have more tartaric acid and bouquet for your wines. Picking 

 the Mission grapes before they are fully matured makes a better 

 dry wine than picking later. There is something peculiar about 

 the Mission grape when made into a dry wine. It has a peculiar 

 taste and flavor, which is misnamed "ground taste," and th,e 

 riper and sweeter the grape, the more decided is this taste and 

 smell. .It is a misnomer, for the ground has nothing to do with 



