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Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 6297, 5 November 1891, Page 2

In one of our clippings the other day, it was Btated that brandy was fetching twentyfive francs a bottle in France. Tbe reports of the scarcity of true Cognac appears to have emanated from Mr Warburton.the English Vice-Consul at Rochelle. "The Breweries and Distilleries" Journal is able to state upon the authority of an eyewitness, of the Cognac vineyards, and one who is thoroughly conversant with every detail of the brandy trade, that there is no foundation for the gloomy outlook which Mr Warburton depicts. The vines are in a most flourishing condition, and with favorable weather, there is every reason to expect an abundant and good harvest. Mr Warburton's statement would lead us to suppose that genuine Cognac is not to be had cxci pat enormous cost, and he broadly hints that the various brands in the market professing to be such are but spurious imitations and cleverly distilled substitutes for the real article. It is quite true that one result of the phylloxera outbreak was the wholesale destruction in certain districts of the infected vineyards, and the consequent despair of the leading shippers, who were ready to abandon the whole enterprise and leave it to its fate. In 1888 Rouyer Guillet and Company offered in competition 5000 francs to those who could show the best results in young plantations. This was followed by the formation of a syndicate, eaoh member of whioh contributed more or less to the same object, and the consequence was the immediate infusion of fresh life and vigor into the whole vine-growing district, manifested by the replanting of the vineyards, and the subsequent re-establishment of confidence and security in every department of the world-famed Cognac industry.