Wine, Brandy, and Olive Oil [pp. 175-179]

Wine, Brandy, and Olive Oil.
WINE, BRANDY, AND OLIVE OIL.
THESE articles of commerce have been
imported into the United States in large
quantities in time past, in the absence
of any considerable domestic production,
but now it may be fairly claimed that
California, the natural home of the grape
and olive, can produce within a reasonable time all the wine, brandy, and olive
oil, required for home consumption.
It is claimed by many, and is perhaps
true, that the use of pure domestic wines
will do much towards eradicating the
taste for stronger liquors; and as the
necessity for wine and brandy for medicinal and other purposes than drinking
will cause a large demand for these articles continually, their manufacture and
sale may be considered as among the
legitimate industrial enterprises of the
State.
A very large portion of California is
eminently suitable to the rapid and
healthy growth and unequaled productiveness of the vine and olive tree. A
few years ago it was almost the unanimous opinion of the best informed people of California, that the production of
wine and brandy would soon overshadow
all other industries in extent and profit.
That period has not yet arrived, and it
seems more distant as time rolls, on.
There have been many unseen difficulties encountered, and today it is a matter
of great concern to vine growers, to find
the best way to a more profitable outcome.
The writer as a general business man,
and not as an expert in the details of
this business, but desiring to see his fellow men prosperous, offers the following
plan of co-operation, which, if honestly
adhered to, may be of good service:
A corporation should be formed, consisting principally of grape and olive
growers, with a capital stock of perhaps
two millions of dollars. A plant should
be established in the suburbs of San
Francisco, where twenty acres or more
of suitable land could be obtained at a
reasonable price, located if possible on the
water front, where the ship and rail may
be brought together, and in close proximity to good stone and fresh water in
abundance. Suitable fireproof buildings
of stone and concrete, of moderate cost,
and erected from time to time as needed
for the various purposes, would require
a considerable capital, -if large and
numerous enough to accommodate the
bulk of the business of the State. A
board of directors and officers should
be selected for their general intelligence,
and well known honesty, activity, and
practical knowledge of the business.
The concentration of the bulk of the
wine of the State under a single management would secure innumerable advantages, all of which would tend toward a
more economical handling, a higher art
in manipulation, less friction in marketing, and increased opportunities of expansion to the vine grower. The mixing
and blending could be done through exchange, purchase, or combination and
division. All, or a large portion, of the
product of the wine from a given grape
could be put together, to provide a large
quantity entirely uniform in quality, thus
producing a wine that would be a standard representative of California's average annual production. In massing the
product of a season the proper spirit of
emulation in the production of a superior article should be maintained, by ascertaining the comparative value of each
lot, and making the division of the combined lot by percentage in accordance
with the appraisement. In this manner
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