THE FRENCH VINTAGE OF 1903.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XII, Issue 717, 3 December 1903, Page 24

THE FRENCH VINTAGE OF 1903.

Vintage reports from France, dated Sth October, are just to hand. In the extreme south of France the vintage is finished, and the production is far below the average quantity, and owing to the frosts in April the yield for the whole of France will only be about half a crop. On the other hand the quality is excellent, and prices have taken a rise that is causing great jubilation among growers. Buyers have already secured large parcels at Nimes, Beziersi, Montpellier and Narbonne, at prices ranging between 10d and is per gallon before the first racking. At Carcassonne the market is active, slightly in advance of the abovementioned prices. In the Taru et Garonne the crop is very small, but buyers are offering from is to is 2d for wine stll in the fermenting vats —the 'highest price since 1890., In the Gironde vintage has not yet commenced, but in the Cognac, Toutaine and Champagne districts, where picking has begun, the crops are very small, and prices will be proportionately high in consequence. In the Cognac district the wines are likely to go into consumption rather than be distilled. In Algeria the 'crop is about a fifth above the average, and new wines are fetching lOd to is per gallon for immediate delivery. A few of the heaviest winos, containing 25 to 27 per cent, of proof spirit, have been sold between Is and Is 2d from the fermenting vat. But for the ravages of phylloxera among the ungrafted vines 1903 would be the best year for Algeria of the last decade.