THE FRENCH WINE TRADE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 277, 30 June 1888, Page 6

TH E FRENCH WINE TR AD E .

Anoi.i'ii Jloii-^.ui. writes from Palis to a Chicago paper, thai " tho wine interests of Franco are in a bad way. The vintage of 1888 was the poorest in thirty years, both iiji quantity and quality, but the vintage of 1887 proves to be poorer still. Those whose \ineyards ha\c not been devastated by phylloxera, and who, therefore, have good wine will get very high prices ; but most wine - growers will have to faco serious losses. The districts that are wor&l off' are the Girondc, tho Charente and the Cbarente Inferieurc. "Asa lesull of this the balance of the foreign wine trade i.- heavily against France. Instead of celling' wine to others she has now to buy it for her own use. Ten years ago more than 80,000,000 gallons- were annually exported, while the imports scarcely exceeded ,'>,000,000 gallons. What is the case now '1 bast year France sold only 54,000,000- gallons of wine, while her purchases amounted to the enormous total of 260,000,000 callous. She actually imported halt as much as .-he made. " The wor&t feature of the case, however, pertains not to quantity but to the quality of the wine, home 31,000 tons of sugar wore ufaed ln^t year to fortify the product of the wine-pie«ses. There were during the year imported into or manufactured in France no le^s than 120,000,000 gallons of a mixture compounded from l'aisins, cider and the refuse ot the wine presses. This has been doctored and sold as wine. There have also been imported some millions of gallons of crude spirits manufactured in Germany from potatoes and beet- root. This is treated with drugs and' put upon the market as puie grape brandy, when it really contains not a drop of grape-juice."