Repoet on the Vitioultuee Exhibit. 245 



exigencies of the department compelled ns to accept. The exiiibit in 

 the gallery occupied 342 square feet of space and on the ground floor 

 5()4 square feet. Exhibits were made by sixteen manufacturers of 

 wine and eight of brandy. The tests made at this exposition will tend 

 to establish and confirm the fact that wines, especially champagnes, 

 made in tliis State are of good quality and will serve to demonstrate 

 tliat the industry must rapidly increase and soon become one of tJie 

 leading sources of our wealth. New York is already the second State 

 in wine production in the United States and the output is rapidly 

 increasing. 



Some improvements in methods must be accepted in the near future, 

 upon wliich will rest a large share of further success. One in partic- 

 ular applies not only to New York State, but to all manufacturers 

 throughout the United States. The fault into which most manufac- 

 turers seem to fall is in making too many varieties of wines from 

 grapes grown in any one locality. It is a recognized fact in the old 

 wine-producing districts abroad, that special kinds of wines are best in 

 limited localities, and even the best quality of a given variety is still 

 more limited in area, even to a single trellis in a vineyard. This is the 

 opinion after hundreds of years' experience, and results in the produc- 

 tion of wines with world-wide reputations. The results of the Chicago 

 Exposition fully bear out this view. Some localities will wai'rant a tine 

 claret, some excel in port and sherry, while others produce fine wines 

 named for the grapes from which made, and which excel, as the grape 

 excels, in that locality. 



New York State has three sections where the grapes. grow to per- 

 fection. The first is the Hudson Kiver district ; the second, the Cen- 

 tral or Lake section, and the third the Chautauqua district, situated 

 near the Lake Erie shore in Chautauqua county. From each some 

 fine wines were shown. From the Hudson came the fine exhibit made 

 by the Brotherhood Wine Company, whose cellars are at Washington- 

 ville. Orange county. The business was organized about fifty years 

 ago, and some choice wines made before 1850 are still in the vaults. 

 Oliautauqua county was well represented by E. G. Ryckman, of 

 Brocton, and Messrs. Fuller & Skinner, of Portland. Many varieties 

 of wines from these two cellars were of the vintages of 1865, 1870, 

 1874 and later. The Brocton Wine Company, under a different 

 management, began business in 1859, and has been enlarged until the 

 floor space now occupied is nearly 13,000 square feet. By far the 

 largest portion of wines made in the State is on the shores of Lake 

 Keuka and vicinity. The planting of vines began here in 1842. 

 There was no organized company for tlie wine manufacture until 

 the organization of the Pleasant Valley Wine Company in 1860. 

 Champagne is the leading kind of wine made by this company, the 

 " Great Western Extra Dry " being the best brand. From this begin- 

 ning has grown a large industry, and numerous flrnis are now located 

 in the district, the most prominent being the Germania Wine Cellars, 

 the Columbia Wine Cellars and the Crescent Wine Company. The 

 capacity of the Pleasant Valley Wine Company, for the manufacture 

 of champagne, has been nearly doubled within the past year. The 



