TheGreat French Wine Blight was a severeblight of the mid-19th century that destroyed many of thevineyards in France and laid waste to the wine industry. It was caused by an insect that originated in North America and was carried across the Atlantic in the late 1850s. The actual genus of the insect is still debated, although it is largely considered to have been a species ofDaktulosphaira vitifoliae, commonly known asgrape phylloxera. While France is considered to have been worst affected, the blight also did a great deal of damage to vineyards in other European countries.
HowPhylloxera was introduced to Europe remains debated: American vines had been taken to Europe many times before, for reasons including experimentation and trials in grafting, without consideration of the possibility of the introduction of pestilence. While thePhylloxera was thought to have arrived around 1858, it was first recorded in France in 1863, in the former province ofLanguedoc. It is argued by some that the introduction of such pests as phylloxera was only a problem after the invention ofsteamships, which allowed a faster journey across the ocean, and consequently allowed pests such as thePhylloxera to survive the trip.
Eventually, followingJules-Émile Planchon's discovery of thePhylloxera as the cause of the blight,[2] andCharles Valentine Riley's confirmation of Planchon's theory,Leo Laliman andGaston Bazille [fr], two French wine growers, proposed that the European vines begrafted to the resistant American rootstock that were not susceptible to thePhylloxera. While many of the French wine growers disliked this idea, most found themselves with no other option. The method proved to be an effective remedy. The "Reconstitution" (as it was termed) of the many vineyards that had been lost was a slow process, but eventually the wine industry in France was able to return to relative normality.
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The aphid that was the central source of the damage in France was first noted following the growing of the EuropeanvineVitis vinifera by French colonists in Florida,[3] in the 16th century. These plantations were a failure, and later experiments with related species of vine also failed, although the reason for these failures appears to have been a mystery to the French colonists. It is known today that it was a species of North American grape phylloxera that caused these early vineyards to fail; the venom injected by thePhylloxera causes a disease that is quickly fatal to the European varieties of vine.[3] The aphids initially went unnoticed by the colonists, despite their great numbers, and the pressure to successfully start a vineyard in America at the time.[4]
It became common knowledge among the settlers that their European vines, of thevinifera variety, simply would not grow in American soil, and they resorted to growing native American plants, and established plantations of these native vines. Exceptions did exist;vinifera plantations were well-established in California before the aphids found their way there.
There have been several theories proposed for why the phylloxera was ignored as the possible cause of the disease that resulted in the failure of so many vineyards, most of which involve the feeding behaviour of the insect, and the way it attacks the roots.[5] Theproboscis of the grape phylloxera has both a venom canal from which it injects its deadly venom and a feeding tube through which it takes in vinesap and nutrients. As thetoxin from the venom corrodes theroot structure of a vine, the sap pressure falls and, as a result, thePhylloxera quickly withdraws its feeding tube and searches for another source of food. Thus, anyone digging up a diseased and dying vine will not findPhylloxera clinging to the roots of the plant.[6]
For a few centuries, Europeans had experimented with American vines and plants in their soil. Many varieties were imported from America without regulation, disregarding the possibility of pest transfer and related problems.Jules-Emile Planchon, a Frenchbiologist who identified thePhylloxera in the 1860s, maintained that the transfer of American vines and plants into Europe greatly increased between roughly 1858 and 1862, and accidentally introducedPhylloxera to Europe around 1860.[7][8] Others say that the aphid did not enter France until around 1863.[9] The advent of steamships may have been a factor: as they were faster than sailing ships, thePhylloxera were better able to survive the shorter ocean voyage.[4]
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The first known documented instance of an attack by thePhylloxera in France was in the village ofPujaut in the department ofGard of the former province ofLanguedoc,[10] in 1863.[9][11] The wine makers there did not notice the aphids, just as the French colonists in America had not, but they noted the mysterious blight that was damaging their vines. The only description of the disease that was given by these wine growers was that it "reminded them distressingly of 'consumption'"(tuberculosis).[4] The blight quickly spread throughout France, but it was several years before the cause of the disease was determined.[4]
Over 40% of French grape vines and vineyards[clarification needed] were devastated over a 15-year period from the late 1850s to the mid-1870s. The French economy was badly hit by the blight: many businesses were lost, and wages in the wine industry were cut to less than half. There was also a noticeable trend of migration to places such asAlgiers and America. The production of cheapraisins and sugar wines caused the domestic industry several problems that threatened to persist even after the blight itself. The damage to the French economy is estimated to have been slightly over 10 billionFrancs.[4]
Research into the cause of the disease began in 1868, when grape growers inRoquemaure, nearPujaut, asked the agricultural society inMontpellier for help.[12] The society appointed a committee including botanist Jules Émile Planchon, local grower Felix Sahut, and the society's president, Gaston Bazille. Sahut soon noticed that the roots of dying vines were infested with "lice"[13] which were sucking sap from the plants. The committee named the new insectRhizaphis vastatrix.[14] Planchon consulted French entomologists Victor Antoine Signoret and Jules Lichtenstein (Planchon's brother-in-law). Signoret suggested renaming the insectPhylloxera vastatrix, due to its similarity toPhylloxera quercus, which afflicted oak leaves.[15] In 1869, English entomologist John Obadiah Westwood suggested that an insect that had afflicted grape leaves in England circa 1863 was the same insect afflicting grape vines' roots in France.[16] Also in 1869, Lichtenstein suggested that the French insect was an American "vine louse" that had been identified in 1855 by the American entomologist Asa Fitch, which he had namedPemphigus vitifoliae.[17] However, there was a problem with these suggestions: French grape lice were known to infest only a vine's roots, whereas American grape lice were known to infest only its leaves.[18] The British-born American entomologist Charles Valentine Riley had been following news of the outbreak in France. He sent Signoret specimens of American grape lice, which Signoret concluded – in 1870, while he was besieged in Paris during theFranco-Prussian War – were indeed identical to French grape lice.[19] Meanwhile, Planchon and Lichtenstein had found vines with afflicted leaves; lice that were transferred from those leaves to the roots of healthy vines attached themselves to the vines' roots as other French grape lice did.[20] Also in 1870, Riley discovered that American grape lice wintered on American grape vines' roots, which the insects damaged, albeit less than in the case of French vines. Riley repeated Planchon and Lichtenstein's experiment using American grape vines and American grape lice, with similar results.[21] Thus the identity of the French and American grape lice was proven. Nevertheless, for another three years, a powerful majority in France argued thatPhylloxera was not the cause of vine disease; instead, vines that were already sickly became infested withPhylloxera. Thus, in their opinion,Phylloxera was merely a consequence of the "true" disease, which remained to be found.[22] Regardless, Riley had discovered American grape varieties that were especially resistant toPhylloxera, and by 1871, French farmers began to import them and to graft French vines onto the American rootstock.[23] (Leo Laliman had suggested importing American vines as early as 1869, but French farmers were reluctant to abandon their traditional varieties. Gaston Bazille then proposed grafting traditional French vines onto American rootstock.[24]) However, importation of American vines did not entirely solve the problem: some American grape varieties struggled in France's chalky soils and succumbed toPhylloxera.[25] By trial and error, American vines were found that could tolerate chalky soils.[26] Meanwhile, entomologists worked to unravel the strange life cycle ofPhylloxera, a project that was completed in 1874.[25]
Many growers resorted to their own methods in attempt to resolve the issue. Chemicals and pesticides were used to no avail. In desperation, some growers positioned toads under each vine, and others allowed their poultry to roam free in the hope they would eat the insects.[27] None of these methods was successful.
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After Charles Valentine Riley, Missouri's state entomologist, confirmed Planchon's theory,Leo Laliman andGaston Bazille [fr], two French wine growers, both suggested the possibility that ifvinifera vines could be combined, by means ofgrafting, with the aphid-resistant American vines, then the problem might be solved.Thomas Volney Munson was consulted and provided native Texan rootstocks for grafting. Because of Munson's role, the French government in 1888 sent a delegation toDenison, Texas, to confer on him the French Legion of Honor Chevalier du Mérite Agricole.[28]
Another viticulturist,Hermann Jaeger ofNeosho, Missouri, was pivotal in the rescue of the French vineyards, as well. Jaeger working with the Missouri state entomologist George Hussman, had already raised vines with resistance to the pest. Indeed, several of the rootstalk varietalsT.V. Munson had developed in Texas (Mrs Munson, Muench, and Neva Munson) were grafts with the hardy Neosho hybrids Jaeger had developed in Missouri.[29] Jaeger exported 17 boxcars of his resistant rootstock to France. In 1893, for his contribution to the grape and wine industries of France, Jaeger was awarded the French Legion of Honor - Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur.[2]
The grafting method was tested, and proved a success.[30] The process was colloquially termed "reconstitution" by French wine growers. The cure for the disease caused a great division in the wine industry: some, who became known as the "chemists", rejected the grafting solution and persisted with the use of pesticides and chemicals. Those who became grafters were known as "Americanists", or "wood merchants".[6] Following the demonstrated success of grafting in the 1870s and 1880s the immense task of "reconstituting" the majority of France's vineyards began.
The French government had offered over 320,000 Francs as a reward to whoever could discover a cure for the blight. Having reportedly been the first to suggest the possibility of using the resistant American rootstock, Leo Laliman tried to claim the money, but the French government refused to award it, with the rationale that he had not cured the blight, but rather stopped it from occurring. However, there may have been other reasons for the government denying Laliman the prize: he was mistrusted by several notable parties,[who?] and he was thought by many to have originally introduced the pest.[4]
There is still no remedy, as such, for thePhylloxera, or the disease it brings with it, and it still poses a substantial threat to any vineyard not planted with grafted rootstock.[31] There is only one European grape vine known to be resistant to thePhylloxera, theAssyrtiko vine, which grows on thevolcanicGreek island ofSantorini; however there is speculation that the actual source of this resistance may arise from the volcanic ash in which the vines grow, and not from the vine itself.[32]
There still exist somevines which have been neither grafted nor destroyed by phylloxera, including some owned byBollinger and Quinta do Noval, in Portugal.[citation needed]
