Phylloexra Vastatrix
Wine History & Culture
A devastating epidemic hit Europe in the 1860s that by the 1900s launched the world into an international wine deficit which would change vineyards worldwide forever.
The accidental arrival of the Phylloxera Louse in Europe came from North America (Mississippi Valley). Once the steamboats began making the journey across the Atlantic at a sufficient speed due to advancements in technology, this allowed for the parasite to survive the journey on imported plants.
In 1866, a producer in the South of France reported the death of a block of vines over the span of a few growing seasons. Two years on, there was a clear disease spreading and this resulted in the French government investigating the dead vines and they discovered that there were swarms of microscopic yellow bugs, recognised as a close relative of the oak phylloxera aphid – aptly named Phylloxera Vastatrix (Latin for “the devastaor”).
“Wine’s Worst Enemy” – Wine Enthusiast
The Phylloxera Louse is a member of the aphid family, and this parasite attacks the roots of the vines by biting into the plant tissue, feeding on the sap and causing disruption in the cells of the plant until the circulation of the sap stopped. The vines will then weaken and die over the course of three to ten years.
By the late 1800’s wineries across Europe ripped up and burned their family’s ancient vineyards to halt the spread of the parasite. This caused over 70% of the vines in France to die, along with the livelihoods of thousands of families. The French Government put out a generous reward for someone to find the cure for the disease (20,000 Francs, $1 million today). This resulted in a lot of imaginative home remedies such as garlic, urine, burning and prayer, as well as the use of pesticides which was expensive and unmaintainable.
After almost 20 years of decimation, the only real and permanent solution was grafting the European Vitis Vinifera varieties onto the Phylloxera resistant American rootstock. However, there were fears that the American roots would taint the flavour of the wine – even after this had been largely disproved. The first official laws to allow for the grafting onto American rootstock were passed in 1878-9, but this practice was initially confined exclusively to the South of france (the most heavily infected areas). Unfortunately, the grafting onto American rootstocks was complicated due to not all being resistant to phylloxera or not being suited to the various soils and climates of France. Despite the years of experimentation and development, it is estimated that by 1900, two-thirds of French vines were grafted onto American rootstocks.
What was left after the decimation of the World’s Vineyards was the blueprint for the modern wine industry that we know today.
Throughout the duration of Phylloxera outbreak there was a decline in wine production in France, this resulted in a rise in imported wine and fraudulent “wine”. Fraudulent wines were raisin wine, sugar wine or even the blending of wine from various regions and marketing them as being from prestigious growing areas. However, once the French wine production recovered in the late 1880/90s the producers could not compete against the international and cheaply made faux wines. In 1907 a protest happened in Montpellier of over half a million people, which the Government took notice of and began the legal steps to the development of the 1935 AOC system (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée). AOC wines must conform to exacting regulations not only with respect to their area of production and their grape variety, but also minimum sugar content to be obtained from their must, their alcoholic content, their yield per hectare, the pruning of their vines, and their method of cultivation and vilification. Today, many producers perceive the french AOC system as being too restrictive, however without it there could have been a vastly different outcome for French wine. The AOC system has also become a blueprint for almost every other appellation program worldwide.
