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Great French Wine Blight
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The destruction of much of France's vineyards in the mid-19th century by grape phylloxera, a sap-feeding North American insect carried to Europe around 1858 to 1860 and first documented in France in 1863 in the Languedoc. European vines had no resistance; the industry was saved only by grafting them onto resistant American rootstocks, the remedy championed by Leo Laliman and Gaston Bazille after Charles Valentine Riley confirmed the insect as the cause. It is agriculture's standing lesson in what a moved pest can do, and nearly all the world's wine grapes still grow on grafted American roots.
Facts
Milestone YearThe year phylloxera was first documented in France; the insect likely arrived around 1858 to 1860 and the destruction ran through the 1870s. WhenMid-19th century; first documented in France in 1863, devastation through the 1870s 1 LocationFrance, spreading across European viticulture 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Destroyed much of French viticulture; the grafted American rootstock remedy reshaped the practice worldwide
Sources
1. Great French Wine Blight (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead section; cause and remedy sectionsQuote, Lead section; cause and remedy sections
The Great French Wine Blight was a severe blight of the mid-19th century that destroyed many of the vineyards in France and laid waste to the wine industry.
Phylloxera (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationFighting the phylloxera plague sectionQuote, Fighting the phylloxera plague section
Between two-thirds and nine-tenths of all European vineyards were destroyed.
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