that the must produced in Australia is equal, if not
superior, to any in the world. Now, all that follows this
portion relates to wine-making alone ; and it should for
that very reason, therefore, possess a special interest for
us. Moreover, it will be a good thing for the wine industry,
for Australia, and for her people, when such an interest
becomes part of our daily life.
Naturally the first thing to suggest itself, therefore, in the
making of the wine, is the place in which it is made. There
is no, doubt that in Australia the importance of a proper
cellar has never been sufficiently appreciated. But the
French have a proverb, " the cellar makes the wine," show-
ing that it plays no inconsiderable part in the production
of good wine. As Mr. Walter W. Pownall, the representa-
tive of the Australian Wine Company, explained before the
Vegetable Products Commission in Victoria, a knowledge
of cellar routine and cellar work would avoid the spoiling
of much good wine. A man thinks when he' has grown the
wine that is all that is necessary. But the fact is, a wine-
grower has never done with his wine till it has passed out
of his hands.
There was a valuable pamphlet on Australian wines
written by the late Doctor Bleasdale, of Melbourne, in 1876.
It is now out of print, and regrettedly so, for the worthy
Doctor was one of the best connoisseurs of wine Australia
ever had. Mr. L. Brack, the well-known medical publisher
of Sydney, however, has placed me under considerable obliga-
tion by giving me his own copy, and in the preface therein
I note that the author, in speaking of this very question,
remarks : — " I would here reiterate what I have often stated,
" namely, that if the cellar management in the three colonies
" were equal to the magnificent produce of the vines, no
" country on the earth could surpass, in quality and variety
" of kinds, Victoria, South Australia, and New South Wales."
206 THE ABT OF LH^ING IN AUSTRALIA.
Then again, Mr. James Smith, of Melbourne, in the
course of his admirable prize essay on Australian wine,
which appeared in Grwille's Tear Boole of Australia for
1886, has these observations on this subject : — " It is, how-
ever, in the management of the cellar that one must look for
the most efficient means of securing that uniformity of
quality which I regard as such an important desideratum.
If it be not a science, it is certainly an art requiring special
knowledge, training, and experience, combined, perhaps, with
natural aptitude. And it is precisely in this respect, I fear,
that our deficiency in Australia is gi-eatest.
"In the wine-making countries of Europe the cellar-
master is an expert who inherits the skill, traditions, methods,
and usages of many generations of men who have adopted
and followed the same calling. His organs of smell and
taste have been educated to practise the nicest discrimi-
nation of flavour and odour, and if the vintage of a parti-
cular year differs in quality from that of its predecessor, he
knows how, by a judicious blending of the old with the
new, of the highly coloured with the pallid, to arrive at
that uniformity which is so indispensable."
Page 139
Presented as published in 1893. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
that the must produced in Australia is equal, if not superior, to any in the world. Now, all that follows this portion relates to wine-making alone ; and it should for that very reason, therefore, possess a special interest for us. Moreover, it will be a good thing for the wine industry, for Australia, and for her people, when such an interest becomes part of our daily life.
Naturally the first thing to suggest itself, therefore, in the making of the wine, is the place in which it is made. There is no, doubt that in Australia the importance of a proper cellar has never been sufficiently appreciated. But the French have a proverb, " the cellar makes the wine," showing that it plays no inconsiderable part in the production of good wine. As Mr. Walter W. Pownall, the representative of the Australian Wine Company, explained before the Vegetable Products Commission in Victoria, a knowledge of cellar routine and cellar work would avoid the spoiling of much good wine. A man thinks when he' has grown the wine that is all that is necessary. But the fact is, a winegrower has never done with his wine till it has passed out of his hands.
There was a valuable pamphlet on Australian wines written by the late Doctor Bleasdale, of Melbourne, in 1876. It is now out of print, and regrettedly so, for the worthy Doctor was one of the best connoisseurs of wine Australia ever had. Mr. L. Brack, the well-known medical publisher of Sydney, however, has placed me under considerable obligation by giving me his own copy, and in the preface therein I note that the author, in speaking of this very question, remarks : — " I would here reiterate what I have often stated, " namely, that if the cellar management in the three colonies " were equal to the magnificent produce of the vines, no " country on the earth could surpass, in quality and variety " of kinds, Victoria, South Australia, and New South Wales."
Then again, Mr. James Smith, of Melbourne, in the course of his admirable prize essay on Australian wine, which appeared in Grenville's Year Book of Australia for 1886, has these observations on this subject : — " It is, however, in the management of the cellar that one must look for the most efficient means of securing that uniformity of quality which I regard as such an important desideratum. If it be not a science, it is certainly an art requiring special knowledge, training, and experience, combined, perhaps, with natural aptitude. And it is precisely in this respect, I fear, that our deficiency in Australia is greatest.
"In the wine-making countries of Europe the cellarmaster is an expert who inherits the skill, traditions, methods, and usages of many generations of men who have adopted and followed the same calling. His organs of smell and taste have been educated to practise the nicest discrimination of flavour and odour, and if the vintage of a particular year differs in quality from that of its predecessor, he knows how, by a judicious blending of the old with the new, of the highly coloured with the pallid, to arrive at that uniformity which is so indispensable."