■56 



alcohol in excess of any kind, and the habits even of the present 

 generation bear favorable comparison with those of previous 



ones. 



As regards our wines, I have been in the habit of sending small 

 consignments to Europe and also to India with a view of having 

 them submitted to the best judges, and invariably the verdict on 

 light wines has been that the alcohol was too much in evidence, 

 and that there was deficiency of bouquet and a consequent one of 

 the true wine flavour. These wines were the best I could procure, 

 both from my own cellars and from neighbours, and they were all 

 made in the usual manner from must as it had run from the press. 

 It was only by a few wet vintages that I was taught the lesson 

 from which I have since profited to the extent that my European 

 judges have no more faults to find. The must I was obliged to 

 ferment in these years (of which 1891 was the last) did not ever 

 average the specific gravity usual at German and Frebch vintagea 

 and fermented out conpletely in less than six weeks. Instead of 

 furnishing a wine only fit for the still, as I thought it would be, 

 it produced a sound dry wine of excellent bouquet and flavour, 

 almost identical with the best European wines I have ever tasted, 

 and in a cool underground cellar it has kept sound up to this 

 day, improving as it ages, and forming an excellent blend with 

 our ordinary dry wines, with which, when intended for export, it 

 can be fortifled to any degree that may be thought desirable for 

 keeping it sound and meeting the tastes of our European customers. 

 Bouquet and flavour are not destroyed by judicious blending, and 

 these are the two great requisites which are usually deficient in 

 our wines and cannot be secured except by fermenting must of 

 low specific gravity. 



I therefore have no hesitation in strongly recommending a 

 reduction of gravity and the adoption of a uniform standard not 

 exceeding that of France and Germany (excepting, of course, in 

 wines for Mr. Burgoyne). Our grape juice generally is too rich 

 in glucose and also in colouring, tannic, and extractive matter, 

 whilst frequently deficient in acids, especially the free ones, so 

 indispensable for bouquet. All vinologists are unanimous in 

 declaring it indispensable to success that, wherever we find these 

 elements are not such as we know from experience they must be 

 to make a good wine, we are not only justified but actually com- 

 ■pelled to adjust them properly before fermentation sets in or 

 whilst it is going on. Thus by early vintages we reduce glucose 

 and increase acids, by a short vat fermentation we keep out excess 

 lof colouring and astringent matter, and finally, if need be, we 

 reduce- the gravity of our must by that of Mataro, Sweetwater, 

 and other largely-bearing varieties, or, even if these prove inade- 

 quate and we have abundance of acids, by the addition of a few 

 gallons of pure rain or distilled water. This is considered perfectly 



