Phylloxera
Did you know that America saved the European wine industry from complete and udder devastation? It’s true. The French wine industry was brought to it’s knees in the late 1800’s by a mysterious disease that killed the noble grape vines that had thrived for millennia in all areas of France. And American grape vines provided the solution that saved the great wines of France.
Of course, America also caused the problems in the first place.
It all started with a nearly microscopic aphid-like creature. This little guy is called the Phylloxera louse and is native to North America. It has an incredible 18 stages in its life cycle, all of which occur on grape vines, in the leaves and the roots. The bug kills grape vines through a complex cycle that effectively deals a one-two punch; stages of which poison the vine and suck out the sap. To this day, there has been no proven way to interrupt the complex life cycle of the Phylloxera louse.
The invention of steam engines shortened the journey across the Atlantic to a small enough time frame that Phylloxera was able to survive the ride. Curious botanist brought American vines over to Europe in the 1850’s, and sealed the fate of the native European vines. Historical estimates of vineyard destruction range from 70-90% across the whole of Europe. In due time, the Phylloxera louse was discovered in Europe and in the vines of American grapes and the link was made.
Remember, the louse is native to North America. And we certainly had and have grapes that thrive everywhere here. How was this possible? The trick is, the native vines developed resistance to the louse over the eons that they evolved together.
The solution was a tough sell to the proud French: graft their noble grapes onto the roots of the humble American vines. It worked. And it is still being practiced to this day. When you hear wine people talk about “grafting” or “grafted vines” this is what they are talking about.
Some growers feel that “self-rooted” vines produce superior grapes and wines than do the vines that have grafted rootstock. That debate will likely never be solved because there is still no other way to stop an infestation of a grape vine by the Phylloxera louse, and so, the vast, vast majority of vines that are planted to this day are grafted.
