hubert howe bancroft - Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History ...

FLOWER GARDENS. 49
most of them green throughout the winter, with larger
and brilliant flowers though less perfume. The rose
Kohler, a German, who arrived at S. F. in 1853, and is now deceased. In the
following year he formed a partnership with J. Frohling, who bought a vineyard
in LOJ Angeles, while kohler opened and managed the cellar at the bay
city. For a long time the business was unprofitable, ont Kohler's enthusiasm
And energy succeeded in building up a large trade, and to him was largely
due the impulse given to viniculture. His nine Production, MS., dictated for
my work, has furnished many of the facts here given. Fermentation has
usually been effected in 140-gallon casks, at first filled only with about 115
gallons of must. The southern wine stands preeminent for sweetness, with
much spirit and little aroma; the Coast Range district, especially of Napa and
Sonoma, yield more acid white and red wines; and from the foothills of the
Sierra Nevada come the larger proportion of sherry, Madeira, and high aroma
German wines. Of late the vinicultural development, particularly in the
great valley, has been so immense and varied as to require a new classification.
The grape ripens so rapidly as to produce an excess of sugar, nearly double that
of the average European. Hence a haste to press in advance of full maturity.
The proportion of alcohol in the lighter wine is from 10 to 14 per cent, which
renders fermentation difficult and lessens the delicacy. The selection for cellars
is improving, and the advisability is considered of using fire to modify
the temperature. In the south more adobe houses have been used. Hill
tunnels are commended. The rejection of rotten or unripe crapes is so small
as to speak highly for their quality. Grapes were shipped, to the Atlantic
states in 1854, Haves' Any., v. 21, and wine consignments began soon
after. By 1881 the latter had risen to more than 3,000,000 gallons, of which
45 per cent consisted of light red wine, 35 per cent of light white, and the
remainder of port, sherry, and angelica, the latter verging toward a cordiaL
Thb proportion answers well enough for estimates of the totaL The Zinfandel
now leads the dry red, and Reisling the dry white. Golden Chasselas and
Bcrgcr follow the latter; Pinot, Charbonneau, and Malvoisie the former. In
the latter part of the sixties the eastern demand preferred the hock, port,
(whereof 150,000 gallons sold at New York in 1867), angelica, sherry, champagne,
muscat, and claret in the order named. Cronise's Cal, 390. California
will no doubt in time assert herself for special new brands, rather than
cling to imitations. Noteworthy are the efforts of Arpad Haraszthy to foster
a taste for pure champagne, free even from the flavoring so widely practised
in France, and at a sufficiently low price to gain advantage over the machinesverated
productions so widely circulated under forged labels. Champagne
was made at S. Gabriel prior to 1856. Sac Union, Oct. 9, 1855. Sansevain
tried shortly after to manufacture it for the market, but failed. Haraszthy
studied the process at Epcrnay, and after costly failures to produce the
sparkling wine he attained success, as related in Com. and fnd.t 249-52;
Id., Atjric, MS., 21-2. Brandy has also been improved in quality, after long
contentment with crude processes and inferior grapes. Naglee of S. Jose
mad2 it his specialty, Baldwin and Rose of Los Angeles rank as chief producers
in the south, and the Johnson and Brighton distilleries on the Sac. lead in
tho north. Codman, Round Trip, 106-8, describes Naglee's efforts. A growing
proportion of culturists devote themselves to making raisins. This began
«3 an industry at Los Angeles in 1859, says Los Ang. Co. Hist., 65, but it
dates commercially only since 1872, when the first good American raisins
appeared. See also S. Bern. Co. Hist., and S. Diego Co. HisU In 1875
the crop was 18,000 boxes of 20 lbs.; in 1880 fully 100,000, with prospective
large increase. The raisin region extends from S. Diego far into the
Sac Valley, and the demand in the U. S. alone is sufficient to encourage a
wide cultivation. The white Muscats are preferred. They are dried in the
sun on trays, and ready for the sweat-box within two weeks. In 1881 Riverside
growers reported a yield of 200 boxes to the acre, worth nearly $2 a box,
HIST. CAL., YOU VIL 4