Look back to the future

Wines & Vines, July, 1999 by Al Cribari

July, 1929, sees Vol. 1, No. 1 of The California Grower which took over from California Grape Grower. Obviously Mr. Stoll was after bigger game. And he got it; the new magazine has a circulation of about ten times the number of Grape Grower.

July, 1929 also sees the formation of Fruit Industries, Inc. a co-op composed of eight independent wineries. I believe that the formation of this co-op was "hastened" by the realization that such an organization would have a bigger voice in the halls of congress. In any case I do believe it worked. I remember going to the NYC office of F.I. with my dad. He was a business and personal friend of the manager - whose name I have forgotten - and being overawed by the large, bright, modern office F.I. maintained, so much more grand than our dinky office and winery on Gransvort St.

"Stream of Gold". A fine ad by the Southern Pacific RR, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the driving of "the last and gold spike" in the Central Pacific's Overland Route. Seems impossible that the transcontinental railroad was only 60 years old when I was a lad of nine.

The Treasury Department apparently sent a questionnaire to all grape growers asking them to list their buyers, etc. and also asking them to list the "ultimate consumers of your grapes". What a clumsy way to ferret out home wine-makers (who needed a permit) and bootleggers!

"The introduction of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly in the United States creates a serious situation. This insect was first found only three months ago."

"Where California Growers Feel At Home!" So says the ad of The Hotel Drake in San Francisco with "rates from $3.50".

In the magazine, busy with its new format and circulation list, all seemed serene but times were tough and looming over all was the mood of the NYC stock market which began, as I recall, to tremor and shake. All in preparation for its October crash.

"Summary of Grape Products Conference". This was an effort to display the new items made from grapes that hopefully would be commercially acceptable. It was an effort that continued until recently. The acceptance of concentrated grape juice as a sweetening ingredient in soda-pop and fruit juices achieved almost all our hopes. "If you don't succeed at first, try, try again". Some of our top people attended the conference, namely, Profs. Cruess, Joslyn, Pitman, Mrak, Marsh and viti-culturists Twight, Rossi and others I don't recognize or remember.

Despite all these efforts, July of '29 was a tough time and tough times were to last quite a while.

The editor is commenting (1949) on the news that wine consumption was up by nine million gallons over the previous year but the per capita consumption is down because of the increase in U.S. population. Except for the highly unusual year of 1946, wine consumption was stuck at just under the magical one gallon per capita mark. In looking back over these figures, some years ago I concluded that the reasons for the depressing wine sales during these years was: (1) the poor quality of post-war wines, (2) the appearance of completely adequate quantities of high-quality spirits, (3) and the concentration of industry efforts into the sales of dessert wines. The "boys" came back from overseas with two or three thoughts in mind and one was to quench their thirst with good, good beer and good whiskey. It took a while for our industry to provide the kind of wine that these people wanted, for people of non-wine backgrounds to discover wines and for the taste for the "hard stuff" to ameliorate.

In any case, the goal of one gallon of wine per capita seemed almost unreachable in the foreseeable future. One advantage of living to a healthy old age is to look back and see all the improvements in life that were only a dream in our youth.

"Mandatory Fair Trade For Wine In California." Despite all its drawbacks, I think that this law had a significant role in boosting the recovery of the industry. It gave some respect and confidence in the industry at a time when such was very much needed. Yep, it was socialistic and all that but it helped to save capitalism.

"New Marketing Order Possible." This was a controversial program to assess wineries and use the proceeds to buy surplus grapes and/or grape products and dispose of them in a non-competitive market.

Four pages on "Malolactic Fermentation in California Wines." Interesting subject but I believe the mystery of this phenomenon has been unraveled - for the good of wine quality, I might add.

"Petri Tulare Winery Sold to Eddie K. Arakelian and Vas Gunner, including the surrounding 640 acres of grapes."

"Ellena Bros. Winery is sponsoring... telecasts of baseball in California."

"Muscatel Ruling. Wines produced in the future to be marketed as Muscatel must again derive not less than 51% of their volume from Muscat grapes, as required before the war."

"Wine Technology Conference Set." The second conference has been scheduled at U.C., Davis. Originally conceived as a biennial event, this was changed to a yearly schedule "by popular demand;" as you oldsters know, this became the American Society of Viticulture (now ASEV).