WEST COAST WINE.

Patea Mail, 25 September 1880, Page 3

WEST COAST WINE.

A Spaniard named Solar, from Castille, has been cultivating a vineyard noar Wanganui about 15 years. The Herald srys : —“ He came from Victoria expressly to find a place with the climate suited to the growth of the grape in this Island, and chose Wanganui. The garden is of two and a half acres in extent and planted throughout with vines of twenty or thirty different varieties best suited for the wines he makes. These are trailed over supports and form a series of avenues shaded and perfumed by the green leaves and the rich, purple bunches of the grapes in the season, though just at present they look less attractive, Mr Solar is a Spaniard, from Barcelona, and has therefore been trained in a good school for the culture of the vine, and in his opinion the climate of NewZealand is far superior to that of Australia for the purpose, the heat of the latter country forcing the fermentation too quickly for the preservation of the exact flavour desired by connoisseurs. On one side of tiie ground is a wooden storehouse, or cellar, of about a hundred feet long, in which are ranged some scores of quarter casks containing the juice of his grapes, after it has been extracted by presses and fermented in vats in another building. Port, sherry, red and white Constantin, still and sparkling burgundy, champagne, and other sparkling wines, arc the principal kinds he produces, and for the excellence of the quality the favour it meets with in Christchurch is the best guarantee, one large firm in that city r having just given an order for all he makes during the next eighteen months. From fify to sixty quarter-casks of twenty-eight gallons are turned out from this little vineyard per annum,at a price thatissmall in comparison with that of the distilled spirits so foolishly preferred by thick-headed coldblooded John Bull, 32s per dozen being the charge for the still wines, and £2 to £2 10s that of the sparkling. A specimen of the port that had been seven years in a bottle, and was guaranteed not to contain the slightest infusion of brandy, was exhibited to us, which for general flavour and richness, without the intoxicating effect of spirits, could well bear comparison with the favorite wine of the old English dining tables. The sparkling wines arc infinitely better than the half-guinea colonial “ fizz, ” and are wines, and not extract of rhubarb.”