447 



The extensive manufacture of pure Australian brandy, at a 

 reasonable price, has of late done much in Victoria and South 

 Australia to limit the importation of adulterated spirits and check 

 illicit distillations. 



The manufacture of Australian brandy is, however, susceptible 

 of vast improvements, and although it is mostly made of " pricked " 

 or unmarketable wine, bought for the purpose at a greatly reduced 

 price, still, by means of careful distillation and proper maturing, 

 three or four of the leading brandy manufacturing firms of the 

 Eastern States have lifted it up, in the face of unreasonable 

 prejudice, to the level of the best brands of French brandy. The 

 trade is a rapidly increasing and profitable one, and the Army 

 Commissariat, recognising its merit, now puts it on a par on its 

 tender list with the best brands of French Cognac placed on the 

 market. 



RELATION OF RAW MATERIAL TO MANUFACTURED BRANDY. 



The production of brandy at per acre of grape vines varies with 

 two or three factors, which it is well to bear in mind in making an 

 estimate of the cost of manufacturing the brandy. These factors 

 affect mainly the cost of the raw material used for distillation. 



The same kind of grapes will yield differently when grown in a 

 dry, arid locality, or in a moister one. The class of soil will also 

 affect the crops. Varieties of grapes also differ very widely as 

 regards quantity of grapes, quality of wine, and its suitability for 

 the purpose of brandy making. 



The coastal zone of the South-Western District of Western 

 Australia possesses a climate admirably adapted for the production 

 of fine crops of healthy grapes. One does not meet here with either 

 extremes in the ranges of production. A good average yearly crop 

 of grapes can be reckoned upon with certainty, the yield being neither 

 very low, as is often the case in very dry localities, nor very high, 

 as is the case on the rich bottom lands of the South of France. 



Where heavy-bearing varieties of vines are extensively grown, 

 the result is apparent in the quality of the must pressed out of the 

 grapes. It is neither excessively heavy with sugar, and for that 

 reason difficult to ferment, nor is it watery and tart. The wine 

 resulting from it is, when carefully made and handled, good of 

 quality, keeps well, and neither excessively spirituous and heavy, 

 nor thin, of poor body, and of bad keeping quality. 



In the following list I give, with the kind of grapes more 

 extensively used in Western Australia, the amounts, in gallons, of 

 wine made from what is considered a yield above and below the 

 average : 



Class A comprises grapes producing small crops of wine of 

 special quality, which are used for blending with wines made from 

 grapes named under Classes B and C. 



