It seems a thousand pities, then, that such misconception should exist with regard to our wines.  And quite undeservedly so, for as a matter of fact these lighter wines are most unfairly neglected.  They simply require to be properly fined and carefully attended to.  The casks in which they are shipped should be thoroughly cleansed and treated before being filled, in order to take out any taint of spirits they may contain; or any excess of tannin, which is always present in Dew wood.  If these different matters be looked to they will improve to a wonderful extent on the voyage, and after being allowed a week or fortnight’s rest on arrival, they will be found in a highly satisfactory condition.  After this time these delicate wines of a low alcoholic strength require to be duly cared for.  But they are worth a little extra attention, for it is absolutely certain that through them, and through them alone, will our Australian wines be accorded the merit and the appreciation which they so undoubtedly deserve.

It must not be imagined, however, that the foregoing is the only handicap which Australian wine has to carry.  In other cases there are many reprehensible proceedings adopted, which irretrievably injure the reputation of our wines in the English market.  Some of the inferior wines are shipped home and “restored,” by blending them with full, heavy, rich wines from warmer districts.  When “clothed” in this way, their imperfections are for a time hidden, but the bad soon contaminates the whole.  It is true that a good, sound, and well-made wine improves with age.  But with these “restored” and “clothed” wines the reverse happens, and they become worse and worse by keeping.

Then again, many of the widely advertised Australian wines in the old country are sold too young; and unfortunately these young wines constitute the bulk of the trade done with England.  They are bottled when too green and crude, and have not been given a sufficient time in cask to develop into high-class wines.  They must be allowed to acquire a proper amount of cask ripeness, and if they were stored and attended to for twelve months before being bottled they would vastly improve.  In some cases, also, wines are shipped from Australia before they are twelve months old, and as they are usually fined, bottled, and sold as soon as possible after arrival, it has actually happened that the British public have repeatedly drunk wines that are hardly one year old.  Indeed, the wines are frequently bottled when in a state of fermentation, consequently secondary fermentation goes on in the bottle, and the bottles are often shattered by an explosion.  And more than this, they are often badly blended; they do not receive sufficient care and attention; and they are not uncommonly in the hands of a few men whose sole object is to make money.