280 ON COLONIAL WINES, 
attention, that lias in many instances disappeared. 
And while our Victorian wines will have a character 
of their own, it is now certain .that it will be a pleasant 
one. Young wines from new vineyards on the valley 
of the Murray were quite clean on the palate— in one 
instance remarkably so. From a vineyard near Echuca 
there came, in 1866, two lots of white and red wine, 
so offensive from this earthy taste, that the experts 
could find no terms strong enough to characterise it. 
In' the instance of the reds, after four years they 
become good, but the whites, some of which remain, 
are still simply execrable. Yet a German vigneron, 
Mr. Vettler, has shown that by care and attention all 
these bad qualities can be avoided. None of his wines 
were more than two years old, yet the number of 
medals awarded him by experts, who had not the 
remotest knowledge whose wines they were judging, 
shows his complete success in wine-making. 
I often hear persons interested in wine talking about 
foreign markets for their produce ; but it has always, 
seemed to me that our own people form the best 
customers of our produce. One thing is certain, that 
we are gradually and steadily becoming a wine-drinking 
people. The city is well spotted over with shops that 
deal in little else than colonial wine, which they retail 
at 2d. a large glass and 6d. a bottle ! Now, I have had 
many years experience of wine, as taken by the Portu- 
guese, and I am bold to say that such wine as is retailed 
in Melbourne at 6d. per bottle cannot be had for twice 
the money in either Lisbon or Paris at this day. 
In the absence of any official information, I take the 
following from the Argus of 15th February, 1873 :— 
"The decrease in the -import of wines from £213,852 
