Within fifty years wine-making has become quite an industry in the United States, and so to-day California, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, and Virginia furnish a great deal of very good wine, especially wines of the lighter kinds. These wines are doubtless purer, and often better, than the foreign wines, for they are so cheap that it does not pay to take the trouble or expense either to change them or to counterfeit them. In 1894 the producer, for his lighter wines in California, could barely command six cents per gallon in his vaults, scarcely the price of good cider as we find it in the general market. California is our great wine-producing State. In 1898 she exported fifteen millions of gallons of wine, and there the business is still in its infancy. Probably to-day these figures are doubled, or more than doubled. In the future California is destined to rival all the great wine-producing countries of the world.

When we ferment the grape, the sugar of the grapes is transformed, on an average, into alcohol, 48.4 per cent.; carbon dioxide, 46.6 per cent.; glycerin, 3.3 per cent. The malic acid is converted into succinic acid, .5 per cent., and the yeast ingredients 1.2 per cent, making in all 100 per cent. The germs come from the atmosphere, where they exist always in the lower strata. On tops of mountains, perhaps, natural fermentation would not start, owing to the absence of yeast germs, but here we could start it by adding old must or yeast. Natural fermentation is best. Here is an important point: If the fermentative germs do not exist on mountain-tops, it is reasonable to suppose pathogenic germs do not exist there. Indeed I have my doubts if tubercle bacilli exist and thrive above five thousand feet above sea-level. The same may be the case on the high seas, in deep canons, and such places.

In California wines mature much more rapidly than they do in Europe. In the future, we may expect wines from the Pacific Coast of a high character, especially of the Medoc type, and Burgundies, true Sauternes, and those of the Cognac type. I have never yet seen a real good sherry among them; there is too much sugar in their sherries, and the same may be said of those of the Madeira type. Some of the port wines are fair, and are particularly to be recommended for medicinal use. California sherries and ports are usually sold in the shops, not by any particular name, but by the year of the vintage, which really means nothing, as choice old port 1885, pure port 1880, and so on; and the same with the sherries and those of the Madeira class.

The California hocks, Rhine wines, and Sau-ternes, as we find them in the trade, take the names of the true hocks, Rhine wines, and Sauternes, as Haut Sauterne, Choice Old Liebfrau Milch, Rudes-heimer, and such. Of these wines I like the true California Rieslings the best. The sweet wines of California are sold as Choice Old Muscatel, Choice Angelica, and such, and are among the best of these wines obtainable, if they come from a good source.

California Burgundy we find in our markets as Burgundy 1885, Burgundy 1880, and so on. The clarets come under a number of names. The Zin-fandels to my mind, are much the better. The Zinfandel grape has a peculiar flavor of its own, which pervades the claret and grows on one rapidly. Of course, to get the best results in flavor, etc., the wine is blended with the red and white Zinfandel and other wines, Zinfandel predominating largely, until the desired result is obtained. These California clarets are stronger in every way than the foreign clarets, and approach near to the Burgundies, and need water added to them when used as ordinary table-wine.

The Cabernet Sauvignon makes a high-class Bordeaux wine alone, and the Burgundy Pinot grape does the same, but these are among the few on the Pacific coast that do not need blending. We find in the shops clarets under the names of Medoc, Cabernet, St. Julien, Larose, Pontet Canet, Santa Monica, and others.

The Zinfandel grape has been very extensively planted in California; it is hardy and flourishes everywhere, and for this reason, among others, it is the greatest claret grape, and properly blended, as Zinfandels, we get the best of the California clarets, although the Medoc class might possibly be better could we get them from first hands. The Zinfandel has a bouquet of its own, is of light astringency, and has a light color.

There is no manner of doubt, as we purchase medium-priced clarets in the general market, that the California and other American clarets are far better than the adulterated stuff we usually get from abroad. I do not hesitate to advise their use generally. Some very good clarets are made in New Jersey, near the coast, and among the best of American clarets I have ever tasted are those made in Virginia, near Charlottesville. Should we need a sweet wine the Virginia Scuppernong wines are worth testing.

Of the Hock varieties of California, I prefer the Rieslings. The Riesling is the noble grape, par excellence of the Rhine, and predominates in the famous Johannisberg vineyard. I believe a true Johannisberger will be made in California much better than we can buy of European origin in our market, if you can buy any at all. If you wish one of the best wines of the Rhine wine type to-day, buy the California Riesling in preference to the average foreign wine. This brings us through the list of American light wines and other wines, except the sparkling wines, champagne, the true "vin de luxe"

Let me add here, that Californians accuse the dealers who buy their wines of shipping them in bulk to Europe and bringing them back here with European, high-sounding labels on them, and selling them to us as genuine European wines. The way to stop this is to drink our own wines, as we should do, whenever possible. As to American champagne, I cannot say much for it. After looking into the matter quite thoroughly, I have come to the conclusion that there is very little true champagne, - that is, champagne fermented in the bottle - made in America. We have plenty of soda-water champagne, and some of this is quite pleasant, and serves a good part in taking the place of the more expensive European wines.