January, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



35 



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Others, so heavy is the crop, sell their product only by the 

 ton. Grapes raised in this way pay the farmer five per cent, 

 on a valuation of three hundred dollars per acre, the growers 

 receiving from eighteen dollars to twenty dollars a ton. The 

 grapes are Mission, Zinfandel, Riesling, Burger-Carignon, 

 Black-Malvaise, Blue x^lva, Marie Blanche and Montereaux, 

 so the rancher tells me. At the little town of Lamanda the 

 very air is permeated with grape, and we see hundreds of 

 pounds of the luscious fruit going into the crusher. The 

 crusher fits into a pomace box two feet in depth and ten feet 

 square, and as it drops the pomace falls into a vat-like case, 

 while the stems are whirled away like chaff by the stemmer. 

 When the vat is 

 filled the pomace Jo£_ 

 runs off through 

 pipes or troughs in 

 various directions to 

 the fermenting cel- 

 lar below. This is 

 an interesting sight, 

 as every hour the 

 juice of twenty-five 

 tons of grapes flows 

 into the two hun- 

 d r e d fermenting 

 vats, which, in the 

 Shorb winery as an 

 example, hold two 

 thousand five hun- 

 dred gallons each. 

 From four to eight 

 days are required 

 for the fermenting 

 process, the time 

 varying according to 

 the temperature. 



The winemaker, 

 whose profession is one of the most exact of sciences, is the 

 wizard who, by blending and manipulating, produces the 

 many brands for which California is famous. If white wines 

 are desired the juice 

 is taken from the 

 pulp as soon as the 

 fermenting tub is 

 reached, and is fer- 

 mented by itself for 

 twelve or fifteen 

 days in special 

 puncheons. Thejuice 

 is now drawn from 

 tank to tank every 

 sixty days for six 

 months, until there 

 is absolutely no sedi- 

 ment. If port is de- 

 sired the juice is al- 

 lowed to ferment 

 from three to six 

 days with the pulp, a vigorous stirring being maintained to 

 ensure a rich color. The juice is now separated from the 

 pulp until it shows twelve per cent, of sugar. It then goes 

 to the fortifying tank, and is passed by the United States 

 gager if it shows twenty per cent, of alcohol. In making 

 Angelica the juice is fermented up to fifteen or sixteen per 

 cent, of sugar. With the Zinfandel, the famous claret of 

 this section, the juice and pulp are allowed to ferment from 

 twelve to fifteen days; the juice is then drawn off and allowed 

 to stand for a month, after which it goes first to tanks, then 

 to puncheons, being drawn every spring and fall into casks 

 to age. Claret requires nearly five years to produce in its 



j B g t fc*,; 





Picking Grapes at the Brigden 

 Sierra Madres 



Miles of Grapes, Asti, Northern California 



best condition. Sherry necessitates great attention and care- 

 ful blending as well. 



The immense size of the wineries astonishes the visitor, 

 and as the value of wine generally lies in its age a vast amount 

 of room is required as well to store and keep it from five to 

 twenty or thirty years, or more, according to kind and qual- 

 ity. Some idea of the productive capacity of the Southern 

 California wineries may be gathered from the fact that from 

 August 24 to November 24 the Secondo Guasti establish- 

 ment makes over three hundred thousand gallons of the dif- 

 ferent kinds of wine. The wineries of the San Gabriel Valley 

 make Port, Sherry, Angelica, Muscatel, Tokay, Madeira, 



Burgundy, Hock, 

 Riesling and Haut 

 Sauterne. Here 

 also are made the 

 famous Folle 

 Blanche brandies, 

 the oldest dating to 

 1882. This is made 

 from the Folle 

 Blanche grape 

 brought from the 

 Cognac region of 

 France. Here is 

 also produced the 

 Trousseau Port, 

 which is always held 

 five years, and the 

 Mission Port. A 

 choice wine from the 

 San Gabriel Valley 

 is the Lenoir Port, 

 made from a grape 

 found in this region 

 exclusively. It is a 

 small grape, jet 

 black and rich in sugar, running as high as thirty-five per cent. 

 One feature that impresses the visitor to these wineries is 

 the absolute cleanliness of the entire establishments. Among 



others, the Brigden, 

 Campbell - Johnston 

 and Baldwin wine- 

 ries stand in virtual 

 parks surrounded by 

 flowers and pro- 

 tected by groves of 

 eucalyptus, pepper 

 and other trees. 



There is novelty 

 and newness in the 

 life on a California 

 vineyard, especially 

 to the visitor from 

 the East. It is quite 

 true that vineyards 

 are not unknown in 

 eastern districts and 

 in regions of much severer climate than that in which the 

 California vineyards flourish. But the vineyard has not, in 

 America, the commonplaceness of the wheatfield or even of 

 the stock farm, and hence the visitor who first sees one of the 

 great California wineries is both astonished at the size of an 

 industry of which he may know very little, as well as at the 

 sights and sounds, the work and play which make up the life 

 of these very considerable communities. 



For without any exception all is strange here. The won- 

 derful new land, which we are just beginning to know, and 

 which some of us love so well, is itself a source of unending, 

 unvarying delight. 



Vineyard, Pasadena, California 

 in Background 



