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The Great French Wine Blight destroyed over 40% of France’s vineyards in the 1860s and 1870s due to phylloxera aphids. This allowed North American and European vineyards to fill the void and become established as wine powerhouses. The blight changed French wines and winemaking, and pre-phylloxera vintages are highly valued.
The Great French Wine Blight was a ruin that destroyed more than 40% of France’s vineyards in the 1860s and 1870s. The ruin had a serious impact on French winemaking and French culture, and gave some North American and European vineyards a chance to intervene and fill the void, becoming established as wine powerhouses in their own right. The story of French Wine Blight illustrates the unexpected vulnerabilities that can be present even in very old crops.
This tangled story begins in the 1600s when Europeans noticed that European vines would not grow in North America. They didn’t understand why this could be, but they settled down to either growing North American grapes or grafting European vines onto the North American rootstock, which seemed to solve the problem. Although European settlers did not realize it at the time, the problem was caused by phylloxera aphids, which destroyed the rootstock of vulnerable European grapes that had never been exposed to these aphids.
Surprisingly, despite all the traffic between Europe and North America, phylloxera didn’t reach Europe until the 1850s. Some researchers studying the Great French Wine Blight have suggested that aphids may not have been able to survive on sailing ships used for transit before the 19th century. In 1863, phylloxera was present in France and killing vineyards, but people were slow to realize what was going on and some potential causes for the French Wine Blight were put forward.
Eventually, the French realize that aphids were the problem and that these aphids had colonized Europe, making it impossible to eradicate them. In response, vineyards began grafting traditionally European grapes onto North American rootstock in France and other blight-stricken nations. In France, this process was known as “reconstitution” and it was not without controversy, as some people felt it compromised the integrity of French vineyards and wines.
Today, so-called “pre-phylloxera” vintages made before the French Wine Blight fetch a hefty price tag when they go on sale. Some wine aficionados argue that the French Wine Blight dramatically changed the nature of French wines and winemaking, and that pre-phylloxera vintages are markedly different from wines produced in reconstituted vineyards. Given the many factors that can affect the taste of wine, especially after hundreds of years in the cellar, it’s hard to tell whether or not these claims hold water.
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