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<< previous...Of the white, or rather pale-coloured grapes—for their hue is usually a reddish one—used for sparkling wines, the principal is the catawba, also of the labrusca variety. The branches are large and tolerably compact; the berries, too, are above the medium size, and have a rich vinous and pronounced musky flavour. Other so-called white species of grapes are the diana and the iona, both, of them seedlings of the catawba; the delaware, the bunches of which are rather small but compact, the berries round, extremely juicy and fresh-tasting, but sweet and aromatic, the wine produced from which is noted for its fragrant bouquet; and, lastly, the walter, a variety obtained by crossing the delaware with the diana. The bunches and berries of the walter are of medium size; the flavour, like that of the delaware, is sweet and aromatic; and the grape is, moreover, remarkable for its agreeable bouquet.

The vintage usually commences about the end of September or the commencement of October, and the grapes, after being carefully sorted, are run through a small mill, which breaks the skins, and admits of the juice running the more readily out when the fruit is placed beneath the press. The latter is worked with a metal screw, and the must is conducted through pipes or hose to casks holding from two to four thousand gallons each, in which it ferments. During the following May the wine is carefully blended, and the operation of bottling commences and lasts for about two or three months. The newly-bottled wine is at first stored in a warm place in order to start the fermentation again, and when the bottles commence to burst it is removed to the subterranean vaults, where it remains stacked in a horizontal fashion until the time arrives to force the sediment down upon the corks. This is accomplished precisely as in the Champagne, the subsequent disgorging and liqueuring being also effected according to the orthodox French system. Altogether a couple of years elapse between the epoch of bottling and shipment, and during this interval each bottle is handled upwards of two hundred times.

The Pleasant Valley Wine Company, established in 1860 for the commerce of still wines, in which it continues to do an extensive business, commenced five years later to make sparkling wines. It grows its own grapes and consumes annually about 1,500 tons of fruit, bottling from 200,000 to 300,000 bottles of sparkling wine in the course of the year. Its brands are the Great Western, of which there is a dry and an extra dry variety, the Carte Blanche, and the Pleasant Valley. Even the extra dry variety of the first-named wine tastes sweet in comparison with a moderately dry champagne, in addition to which its flavour, though agreeable, is certainly too pronounced for a sparkling wine of high quality. The wines, which secured a medal for progress at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873, are sold in every city in the United States, and the company also does a small but increasing trade with England and South America.

The Urbana Wine Company, also established at Hammondsport at the same epoch as its rival, deals, like the latter, in still wines as well. It has three brands—the Gold Seal, of which there is an extra dry variety, the Imperial, and the Royal Rose. At Vienna a diploma of merit was awarded to these wines, for which a considerable market is found throughout the United States and in the West Indies and South America. The Urbana Wine Company produces excellent sparkling wines of singular lightness and of delicate though distinctive flavour. In our judgment the drier varieties are greatly to be preferred. The prices of all the American sparkling wines are certainly high, being almost equivalent to the price of first-class champagnes taken at Reims and Epernay.... next >>