Cameron Winery -- sustainably farmed, non-irrigated, Oregon pinot noir and chardonnay

There was a time slightly more than 150 years ago when European wine almost disappeared from the face of the earth. The 1850s were a time of great stress on the wine industry from a terrible infestation of Oidium (Powdery Mildew).  Without a known treatment, it was wiping out crops across Europe on a periodic basis.

All European wine grapes belong to the genus Vitis, species vinifera and it was known that several different species of Vitis existed in North America.  Furthermore, it became apparent that the North American species were uniquely resistant to most forms of mildew including Oidium. So, at several different loci in Europe in the 1860s, vines were imported from various points in North America to begin work on possibly hybridizing them with Vitis vinifera and to attempt to make wine directly from them. Unfortunately, the North American vines showed up with “hitchhikers” in the form of a tiny root aphid known as Phylloxera. While the North American species of Vitis had evolved to exist with the little creature, the poor European vines were utterly defenseless against it.

While there has long been conjecture on where exactly the Phylloxera first showed up in Europe, there has recently been some brilliant genetic analysis of various Phylloxera populations in Europe that suggests that a variety of this root louse (EU-1) was introduced in the south of France in the 1860s possibly at the Montpelier Research Institute. A second variety (EU-2) has been traced back to the Royal Viticultural Station in Austria in 1868.  Anecdotal evidence also places another introduction in Spain, again by someone trying to solve the Oidium puzzle.

Because Phylloxera can have a winged form in its life cycle, it can spread with frightening intensity. The plague spread out from the several European loci very quickly, literally within 10 years a major portion of the grapevines in France, Italy and beyond were wiped out. By 1889 approximately 2/3 of vineyards in Europe had been destroyed. The area around Dordogne (just northwest of Montpelier) used the be a significant wine producing region and to this day very few vines grow there. Alto Piemonte once far out produced Barolo and Barbaresco with Nebbiolo and even now the quantity of wine produced there is a drop of what it once was. Fortunately for France and the wine world, when the scientists in Montpelier realized what they had possibly unleashed, they swung into action and showed that European budwood could be grafted successfully onto North American rootstock. Of course, this meant that almost every vineyard in Europe had to start over once rootstock became available.

In California, contaminated grapevines arrived from Europe and the East Coast in the 1860s so the vineyards there also became infected. However, the pest moved much more slowly because unaccountably Phylloxera on the west coast does not have a winged form in its life cycle. When the vineyards at Cameron Winery and Abbey Ridge were first established, Phylloxera was not yet present in Oregon. We planted “own rooted” European vines, which are much more easily established than grafted vines. But when Phylloxera finally found its way to Oregon (in the late 80’s or early 90’s), we had to figure out appropriate rootstocks for our soils and learn how to graft. At the present time, around 70% of Clos Electrique has been replaced with grafted vines. But well over 90% of Abbey Ridge is still own rooted. Sadly, there are lenses of Phylloxera appearing at Abbey Ridge so we are now furiously making young grafted vines to replace the ones that succumb to the disease.

Grafting and replanting new vines has a silver lining. We can replace vines with clones that make more interesting and improved wine.  For example, in the Pinot gris block at Abbey Ridge, Bill Wayne many years ago found a mutant vine that produced grape clusters with darker color. As we replace vines in this block with this mutant, it will allow us to produce more of our light red Pinot gris (Supernatural).

And please note that the solution to this problem and to other myriad problems that spring up to plague the wine industry have been solved by basic scientific research at institutions such as UC Davis, Oregon State University, Cornell University, Dijon Viticulture Institute, Geisenheim and countless others around the globe.  Without the continuing intervention of scientific research, wine production would literally disappear.