The phylloxera louse (dactylasphaera vitifoliae) arrived in France from America in 1863, where it destroyed 6.2 million acres of vines and spread rapidly throughout Europe, threatening the very existence of the wine industry.
Phylloxera is native to the east coast of the US, and American vine species have acquired resistance though developing cork layers beneath the wound made by phylloxera feeding on the root. This stops the invasion of other microbes which eventually rot the root and kill non-resistant vines. Phylloxera does not survive well in sand, so vines planted in sandy soils are immune from attack. For the rest, grafting onto resistant American rootstocks such as vitis ruparia and v.rupestris ensures survival. Problems are arising in California today through the widespread use of rootstock AXR1, which offers insufficient resistance. Napa and Sonoma are undergoing extensive replanting on more resistant rootstocks. (source: Oxford Companion to Wine, ed. Jancis Robinson, 2nd edition 1999) 18 months ago I visited a prominent Napa producer who was just beginning to adopt BD techniques, who claimed considerable success in overcoming the effects of phylloxera in a ravaged vineyard through the use of BD. Incidentally, I recall a little while ago (possibly during my pre-Christmas panic, when I made no time to reply) a posting from someone, possibly Greg Willis, bemoaning the perceived bad reputation of biodynamic wine because of the poor quality example of a leading BD grower. My opinion is that this refers exclusively to the American market/perception. In Europe the picture is very different. There, as I discovered during research in 1999, more and more of the top young producers are converting to biodynamic practices on quality grounds. It seems to me that there is a very clear message emerging from high quality French winemakers that biodynamics assists them in producing better and better wines. And that's a very good thing! Regards Hilary From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2002 1:22 PM Subject: Re: Grape Cuttings > > In a message dated 2/3/02 4:34:18 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > << Vinifera grapes-grafted > > Issue is root susceptability to phyloxera & nematodes. Location also a > variable. >> > > This is a paranoid chemical view......these [plants] are treated like crap, > get sick, then treated like junkies... they are susceptible to everything. > sstorch >
