Vesuvius from a vine bearing the same name. It has a fine red
colour, and unites delicacy and a high bouquet with a sweet elegant
taste. The white muscat wines of Vesuvius are also of good quality,
and the island of Capri produces some excellent wine. Perhaps the
best known of Italian wines in the United Kingdom is that produced
in the neighbourhood of Marsala in the island of Sicily, which bears
the name of the town from which it is exported. Marsala is a
fortified white wine which is grown and made with considerable care.
It is somewhat similar in character to the wines of Madeira, but its
character also recalls some of the sherry types. It is vatted and
blended in much the same way as sherry, and there is a considerable
trade in this wine with the United Kingdom. In the neighbourhood
of Palermo, Muscat and Malvoisie wines of very fair quality are made.
The islands of Sardinia and Elba produce considerable quantities of
wine, some of which is of fair quality.
Wines of Austria-Hungary
In point of quantity Austria-Hungary takes the fourth place among the wine-producing nations. The average production for the period 1901-1905 was 178 million gallons. Of this quantity Austria is responsible for roughly three-fifths and Hungary for the remaining two-fifths. The character of the Hungarian wine is, however, much higher than that of the Austrian growths. The quality of the bulk of the Austro-Hungarian wines has been improved of late years, principally owing to the endeavours of the respective governments to introduce scientific and modern methods among the wine-farmers. Since the recovery of the Hungarian vineyards from the phylloxera considerable efforts have been made to develop an export trade, but so far the wines of Hungary are not generally known in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, Hungary produces at least one class of wine which may be considered of international importance, namely, the famous Tokay. This is produced in the mountainous Hegyalia region in a district which has the town of Tokay for its centre. The vine from which Tokay is made is the Furmint. The finest varieties of Tokay are made entirely or mainly from Furmint grapes which have been allowed to become over-ripe in a manner somewhat similar to that obtaining in the Sauternes districts. In the case of Tokay, however, the transformation of the grape into what is practically a raisin is not brought about by the intervention of any particular micro-organism. The sun is sufficiently powerful to cause the evaporation of the water in the grape through the skin without any preliminary loosening of the latter by the action of the botrytis cinerea or any other micro-organism. The most precious variety of Tokay is the so-called essence. This is produced by placing the finest grapes in casks and drawing off the juice which exudes naturally as a result of the weight of the material. The Tokay essence is, even after many years, still a partially fermented wine, rarely containing more than 7% to 9% of alcohol. Indeed, it may be said that the main fermentation rarely, if ever, reaches a climax. Another variety of Tokay is the so-called szamorod. This is produced by pressing a mixture of dried grapes and fully ripe grapes and fermenting the must so obtained. It contains up to about 14% of alcohol and relatively little sugar. The most common kind of Tokay is the so-called Ausbruch wine. This is obtained by extracting dried grapes with the must of ordinary grapes. According to the amount of dried grapes (zibebs) employed, the wine is termed 1 to 5 “buttig.” The Ausbruch wines take from three to four years to ripen, and they may contain from 12% to 15% of alcohol and a little or a fair quantity of sugar, these factors varying according to the vintage and the number of “butts” of zibebs employed. Another variety of Tokay is the so-called máslás. The term is applied to different varieties of wines according to the district, but in the neighbourhood of Tokay it generally refers to wines obtained by treating szamorod or Ausbruch residues with dry wine. In the neighbourhood of Ménes sweet red wines produced by the Ausbruch system are also termed máslás. Hungary produces a variety of other wines both strong, such as those of central Hungary, and relatively light, such as those of Croatia and Transylvania. The wines produced at Carlowitz (on the Danube), some 40 m. north-west of Belgrade, are somewhat stronger. They have a flavour somewhat resembling port, but are coarser, and lack the fine bouquet of the latter. The other chief vine-growing countries of the empire are Dalmatia, Lower Austria and Styria. Some of the Dalmatian wines are of fair quality, and somewhat resemble Burgundy.
Wines of the United States
The cultivation of the vine has made very rapid strides in the United States during the past half-century. Whereas in 1850 the production amounted to little more than a million gallons, the output to-day is, in good years, not far short of 50 million gallons. The result has been that the domestic wines have now very largely displaced the foreign product for ordinary beverage purposes. At the same time, there is no reason to believe that the finer European wines will be entirely displaced, inasmuch as these are characterized by qualities of delicacy and breed which cannot be reproduced at will. At the same time, there is no doubt that much of the wine produced in the United States is of very fair quality, and this is largely due to the fact that the Americans have been at great pains to introduce the latest scientific methods in regard to the vine and wine-making. Thus in parts of California, where high temperatures are liable to prevail during the vintage, the system—first employed in Algeria—of cooling the must during fermentation to the proper temperature by means of a series of pipes in which iced water circulates is now largely employed. The use of pure culture yeast derived from many of the most famous European vineyards has also done much towards improving the quality. In California there are, in addition to the native growths, vines from almost every European wine-growing centre, and the produce of these goes by such names as Riesling, Hermitage, Sauternes, Chianti, &c., in accordance with the district of origin of the vine. California is the largest wine-growing state, as the Pacific slope seems particularly suitable to vine-growing. At the present time there are about 280,000 acres under the vine in California, and the number of vines is about 90 millions. The annual production is about 30 million gallons, of which rather more than one-half is dry wine. A good deal of sweet wine is also made, particularly in the Fresno district, where, however, a large proportion of the grapes is grown with a view to making raisins. Following California, New York and Ohio are the most important wine-producing states. The centre of the wine trade of Ohio is at Sandusky on the shores of Lake Erie. Here, as well as at Cleveland, “champagnes” and “clarets” and “sparkling Catawba” are the chief wines produced. The latter was first made by Nicolas Longworth of Cincinnati. The Catawba is the chief growth of the Lake Erie district; the other important vines being the Delaware and Concord. New York state, in which wine has been grown from a very early period, produces roughly three-quarters of all the domestic “champagnes.” There are about 75,000 acres under the vine in this state, and roughly 5 million gallons are produced annually. The wines grown on the Pacific slope are generally of a mild and sweet character, resembling in general nature the wines of southern Europe (Italy, Spain, Portugal). In the eastern and middle states the wines produced are of a lighter type and of drier flavour, and are somewhat similar to the growths of Germany and France. At the present time America exports a considerable quantity of wine, and there is some trade in the United Kingdom in Californian “claret.”
Wines of the British Empire
The production of the British empire is very small, amounting to roughly 10 million gallons, and this is produced almost entirely in the Cape of Good Hope and in the Australian Commonwealth. At present the average vintage of the Cape and of Australia is in each case roughly 5 to 6 million gallons. In 1905 New South Wales produced 831,000, Victoria 1,726,000, and South Australia 2,846,000 gallons respectively. The trade of Australia with the United Kingdom is now considerable, having increased from 168,188 gallons in 1887 to 622,836 gallons in 1906. It is possible that the trade would grow much more rapidly than it has done if it were practicable to ship the lighter varieties of wines. These, which would be suitable for ordinary beverage purposes, cannot as a rule stand the passage through the Red Sea, and it is therefore only possible to ship the heavier or fortified wines. It is doubtful, therefore, whether the products of the British Empire will ever displace European wines in the United Kingdom on a really large scale, for they cannot compete at present as regards quality with the finer wines of Europe, nor, for the reason stated, with the lighter beverage wines. The quality of the wine produced in the Cape and in Australia has improved very much of recent years, chiefly owing to the introduction of scientific methods of wine cultivation and of wine-making in much the same manner as has been the case in California. The red wines of Australia, particularly those of South Australia, somewhat resemble French wines, being intermediate between claret and burgundy as regards their principal characteristics. There are several types of white wines, some resembling French Sauternes and Chablis and others the wines of the Rhine. It has been recognized, however, that it is impossible to actually reproduce the character of the European wines, and it is now generally held to be desirable to recognize the fact that Australian and Cape wines represent distinct types, and to sell them as such without any reference to the European parent types from which they have been derived.
Other Countries
Considerable quantities of wine are produced in the Balkan states, but the bulk of this is of a coarse description and only fit for local consumption. The average yield of Bulgaria and Rumania is probably some 30 to 40 million gallons for each country, but in some years it is much larger. Thus in 1896 Rumania produced no less than 101 million gallons and Bulgaria 81 million gallons. The wine industry in Greece, which in ancient times and during the middle ages was of great importance, has now become, at any rate in point of quality, quite insignificant. At the present time a great part of the industry is devoted to the cultivation of the currant vine (Vitis corinthiaca). There is a considerable export of currants and raisins and concentrated wine must from this country. Many of the islands of the Mediterranean, from which the ancients drew their supplies of wine, such as Chios, Cos, Tenedos, Crete and Cyprus, still produce considerable quantities of wine, but the bulk of this is scarcely to the modern European taste. In Asia wine is produced, according to Thudichum, principally in Caucasia and Armenia. In Persia, also, wines are made, especially in the Shiraz district. Russia also produces a small quantity of wine, principally in the Crimea. (P. S.)
