The manufacture of champagne[88] from native grapes is beginning to be
an important adjunct to grape-growing and is of especial importance in
New York which is the chief seat of the new industry. According to
statistics from the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of Commerce
and Labor,[89] more than two million bottles of genuine champagne wine
are now produced annually in the United States. The figures compiled by
the Bureau of Statistics show that the manufacture of champagne has
quadrupled in ten years and that New York is by far the largest producer
in this class of wines. It is held by the writers of the circular quoted
above, and a careful study seems to have been made of the subject, that
the American product compares favorably with that produced in other
countries and that native champagnes are steadily improving with the
increased experience of the American producer.
The largest manufacturers of champagne are located about Keuka Lake,
Steuben County, New York. About 75 per ct. of the total output of the
country is manufactured here. The process used is the French one of
fermentation in the bottle and a number of distinct brands are made
which in color, taste, sparkle and purity are rapidly approaching the
high quality of the celebrated French champagnes. Considerable champagne
is also made in Orange County in the southeastern part of New York, in
Northern Ohio, in Missouri, and a small amount from European grapes in
California.
The manufacture of unfermented grape juice[90] is becoming an industry
in New York and promises to substantially increase the production of
grapes. Grape juice is what its name purports, the juice of the grape
undiluted, unsweetened and unfermented. A good grade of grape juice
contains no preservatives, the necessity for such being removed in the
process of making, the chief operation of which is sterilization by heat
whereby the germs of fermentation are killed. The product is an ancient
one, as the Greeks, Hebrews and Assyrians used it as new wine; but the
process of making an unfermented grape juice that could be kept for an
indefinite length of time is quite modern, and is the outcome of the
discoveries of the last half century regarding the control of the agents
of fermentation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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