The Botanist and the Vintner

[KMP]

The lush green leafed rows of vines of a vineyard don’t call to mind a battlefield but in the late 19th century the vineyards of France were made up of “frail wooden frigates, lightly armored cruisers and unsinkable battleships”. This is a colorful and very telling description by Christy Campbell in his book The Botanist and the Vintner: How Wine Was Saved For The World as he illustrates the scale of resistance of various varieties and species of vine against the scourge of phylloxera. Vitis vinifera which had provided the grapes for the great wines of France were frailty personified while Vitis rotundifolia, also known as Scuppernong in its native North America, was resistant to the little insect; and so it should be, it had grown up surrounded by the bug.

Phylloxera was introduced into France in the early 1860’s by vines from New York and had infested virtually the whole of France by the end of the century. The cure was to use rootstock resistant to the insect, but even here battle lines were drawn between the américainistes who advocated the use of the resistant American rootstocks and the sulfuristes who preferred insecticides. But first the cause of the malady that made vines wither and die in the early 1860s would have to be identified and studied. The 19th century struggle against phylloxera is masterfully told by Campbell as he weaves considerable scientific detail into a story coupled with personal accounts of a number of the major players, all against a backdrop of French politics.

The lists of practical remedies that were proposed for the 30,000 franc prize offered by the French Imperial Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce border on the ridiculous; marching bands to drum the aphid out of its root loving existence. However the most remarkable facet of the story is the considerable insight of individuals such as the Montpellier botanist Jules-Émile Planchon and Charles Valentine Riley an English-born entomologist from Missouri in realizing that the aphid was responsible for the disease and that it had come from America. And the struggles faced in convincing vineyard owners to destroy their vines. Why destroy the vines when almost everyone seemed to have a concoction that would kill the pest? Besides there was money to be made in sulphur.

The Botanist and the Vintner is a compelling story and should find a place on the book shelves all serious lovers of the vine and wine.


The Botanist and the Vintner: How Wine Was Saved For The World by Christy Campbell (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2005, 320 pages, $24.95USD, Hardcover)

Disclosure: A complimentary copy of the book was supplied to me by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.

Mike

[Maximus]

Mike,

Thanks for the post. Will endeavour to source the book at some stage, although perhaps the title should read The Botanist and the Vintner: How Wine Has Been Saved For The World Thus Far, given that the fight against Phylloxera continues.

I've just recently completed a report on Phylloxera as an assessment piece, heavily researching the topic in an area that interests me greatly. The real issue I see with Phylloxera, as evident by 'beta' types of the aphid already popping up over the world, is evolutionary resistance. The female adults that grow to maturity and lay their egg sacs with hundreds of asexual zygotes aren't the problem, it's the winged forms that sexually reproduce. Through natural mutations and the rest of it, 'survival of the fittest' occurs and natural selection will dictate Phylloxera with resistance to the american rootstocks.

It truly is a very serious problem and most research tends to focus on the grafting process rather than perhaps addressing the aphid directly, looking into its environment and finding solutions that way. Prevention is of course the best form of control and legislation like that used in South Australia should be enforced in all microclimates and regions that haven't already suffered infestation.

Thanks Mike, a thought provoking topic.

[KMP]

A little side note from The Botanist and the Vintner. Around 1831 James Busby obtained rooted vines destined for NSW from Tarascon, one of the places considered as a possible first point of entry of phylloxera. In 1838 the nursery of the Audibert brothers (at Tarascon) had 27 varieties of American vines. By the 1860s the nursery was destroyed.

Urban Audibert helped Busby pack his vines for transport half way around the world, with a little stop at Kew. While its probable that the aphid would not have survived the long voyage to the colony at present day Sydney, its extremely lucky that Busby got his vines when he did. Its not clear if the aphid had reached Europe earlier than the 1860s, but it was certainly living on vines in the USA long before then.

EDIT Following on from Maximus. Phylloxera infected France just after Darwin published a rather unimportant piece of work called On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection; well at least some people seem to think it unimportant, they certainly seem to think its unproven. But phylloxera was a wonderful example of Darwin's theory in action, and the aphid continues to demonstrate just how valid the theory really is. Intelligent design my foot.......

Mike