Results: Meet Wine's Worst Enemy, Phylloxera

Starting around 1860, a tiny yellow louse called phylloxera (pronounced fi-lok-SUH-ruh) decimated Europe's vineyards, brought to the continent unknowingly by Victorian-era botanists through American native vines. The pests had free rein on a continent where they never should have set wing. When the damage was done, vineyards throughout the world would be changed forever. Were you aware of this infestation "phylloxera" prior to this survey?

By 1878, the invasion had killed 915,000 acres, while another 620,000 acres were dying. That represented more than 25% of France's vineyard acreage. Phylloxera penetrated northward and impacted vineyards in Germany as well, until 1895, and French wine production decreased by half. Panic ripped through France. Thousands of vintners fled the country, convinced that winemaking there was doomed. Did you know the French government offered a 300,000-franc reward to whomever could solve the epidemic ?

The damage done by subterranean phylloxera allows for soilbourne fungi to enter the wounds and kill the roots. Meanwhile, the lice on the leaves help spread the epidemic. They can be blown by wind to another plant: "They hang-glide more than flap their wings," says Walker. Adding to the problem was how vineyards were arranged. Vineyards were wilder and dense, with more field blends than a single variety. Growers propogated vines through tip layering, where shoots are bent back into the earth to grow new roots. The neat rows of vines you see today and organized blocks were created in response to the phylloxera epidemic. Were you aware that more space between vines translates to fewer chances for pests to spread, and it's easier for a grower to catch issues faster?

Indeed, it would have been the end of French wine (some argue that it was) if American rootstocks weren't grafted onto Europe's Vitis vinifera vines. Because phylloxera is American, the rootstocks there had spent generations warding off the pests. In 1870, Charles V. (C.V.) Riley, a Francophie entomologist in Missouri, identified the characteristics of phylloxera from a French report and theorized a solution that would involve more American rootstock. Experiments in southern France vineyards began in the 1870s with success validating the theory. Producers in Bordeaux agreed to grafting in 1881 and Burgundy vintners in 1887, despite those who thought French vines shouldn't be sullied by American rootstocks. Different regions and soil types required different approaches, and French scientists tested thousands of grafting combinations. The winner for the most resistant vines? Vitis rupestris and Vitis riparia. Did you knowt the French government presented C.V. Riley with a Legion of Honor award in 1889?

It took a Texan, Thomas Volney Munson, to save the southwest France's region of Charente, where Cognac is located. Its chalky soils didn't respond to American imports. A delegation headed by Montpellier's Pierre Viala visited Munson at his home in Denison, Texas. They rode on horseback to search for a more hearty, phylloxera-resistant species. Munson, a viticulturist, managed a French-American graft using Texanrootstocks. He received France's high honor, the Chevalier du Mérite Agricole, in 1883. Were you aware that Munson became known as "The Grape Man of Texas?