WINE INDUSTRY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 65, Issue 194, 30 May 1945, Page 5

WINE INDUSTRY

EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMISSION. POSITION OF SMALL GROWERS. (P.A.) AUCKLAND, May 29. That the wine-making industry in New Zealand had been in existence since 1900 at least, and that it was therefore no new development, was emphasised by Mr S. M. Ujdur, Henderson, giving evidence before the Royal Commission on Licensing for the New Zealand Viticultural Association.

Paying a tribute to the work of Government viticulturists up till the appointment of Mr B. W. Lindemann in 1938, Mr Ujdur said a noticeable feature of their work was the issue of pamphlets ill respect of wine-making, diseased grapes, etc., which were distributed to wine-makers. Since Mr Lindemann’s arrival there had been a noticeable change. Few wine-makers who belonged to the Viticultural Association had been visited by Mr Lindemann, and he had made no attempt, to instruct them. Mr Ujdur said the maimer in which the wine-making industry was dealt with by the Agricultural Department should be closely scrutinised. It appeared, for instance, from submissions of the department that the department was of opinion that the technique of modern wine-making could be learned only by the larger wine-makers. Cleanliness Essential. It was fallacious to consider that the quality of wine was in any degree dependent on the of the vineyard. Obviously the test of skill was of the wine-maker, yet one gathered from the department’s evidence that there was little hope for the small wine-maker.

His association also denied that modern wine-making machinery was worth the importance attached to it by the department. The great essential in actual wine-making was cleanliness.

Mr Ujdur said a wine advisory board should be appointed by the Government. The witness further contended that the present methods of sale should be radically altered and the present minimum of two gallons for a sale abolished.

Mr Ujdur said that most of the small growers feared the present Government viticulturist was against them. “I am almost afraid to say so, but I believe that is so,” he added. He put in a copy of a letter sent by his organisation to the Minister of Agriculture in 1943, stating that certain proposals submitted by Mr Lindemann, if fully enforced, would mean the ruination of the industry.. It was considered that they were designed to put out the small man.