TE MATA WINE VAULTS.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4627, 10 May 1915, Page 2

TE MATA WINE VAULTS.

An Examiner representative was privileged to spend an interesting hour in the Te Mata wine vaults on Thursday afternoon. He was greatly astonished at the magnitude of the operations going on. Unfortunately tire manager was absent, but the next in command was very gracious and obliging, and took a lot of trouble to explain the method of how they made wine nowadays. It might be pleasing to connoisseurs to know that at Te Mata the workmen do not take their boots off and then dance a reel on the top of the grapes to extract the juice a method that has been in vogue (and is still practised in many vineyards in Europe) for centuries past. The most modern machinery is in use, and the grapes or liquor are rarely handled. In answer to a question the attendant said the value of the wine in the vaults at the present time was estimated at £IOO,OOO 1 Think of it. The gallons that this represents would make an excellent guessing competition, and is worth the consideration of the management to hold such a competition in. aid of the Patriotic Fund. Of course the recompense to the company would be the great advertisement.

We visited the various vaults. In the first the vats only contained 700 gallons, the next 900, and another 1200—all full of delicious ruadeira, port, claret and hock, and each vat numbered and having the year of vintage plainly shown.

The attendant said that not a drop of wine left the store until it was six years of age, and we were pleased to hear that good and increasing business has been done every year since operations started. Most of the hospitals in the Dominion now use the wines of this establishment, and business is yearly increasing with these institutions. Owing to the drought experienced last season, the output was only half the usual average, but the grapes were of the finest quality the company had ever harvested.

When the wine has reached the age of maturity it is drawn out of the huge vats into casks. It is allowed to settle in the casks for some days and then drawn'into the bottler, which is a six-bottle one of the very latest, and of very ingenious construction. An attendant places the first bottle on it and by the time the sixth is in position the first is full, and so on. There is no chance of a bottle overflowing, for the machine works automatically and the wine ceases to flow when a certain quantity is in the bottle. The bottles are then corked, capsuled and labelled, and ready for market.

Time would not permit of a visit to the vineyards, so after sampling some of the matured wines, which were highly appreciated, we bade the attendant good-bye after thanking him for his courtesy.