![]() ![]() Washington apparently has escaped so far because our dry weather and sandy soils east of the Cascade Mountains appear to be a deterrent. It has been a problem in California and also in some Oregon vineyards in the decades since. New problems emerged when American grape growers brought grape plants back from Europe in the less regulated times after Prohibition, and the nasty insect arrived on the West Coast. In addition, French hybrids - crosses of New and Old World vines - were developed after World War I, with some of the better-known being Marechal Foch, named after the great French general of that war, Leon Millot and Baco Noir, all of which also are grown in the Pacific Northwest. Gradually, resistant rootstock from North American vines was developed, grafted onto canes from European vines and became a staple of replanted vineyards. Just a few isolated areas in France, Spain and Italy remained free of the devastation. Through all the shelling and gassing, the nasty root louse persisted, gradually spreading throughout Europe. Those losses devastated the manpower French agriculture and many vineyards relied on by the time peace arrived on Nov. Then four decades later, World War I killed another 1.3 million French soldiers and wounded 4.2 million more between 1914-18. The nearly microscopic insect attacks not only the leaves and stems of grape vines, but also, most devastatingly, the roots during its larval stage.ĭuring the decades of that losing battle with the bug, the French also lost the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, with nearly 140,000 men killed in six months. It originated in the Western Hemisphere and was brought to Europe in the 1850s by avid botanists returning home with interesting New World plants. Virtually all the wine grapes of France, according to Larousse Wine, nearly perished with the arrival of phylloxera. Even today, nearly a quarter century after DNA testing in the 1990s discovered a peculiar Chilean Merlot was actually the long-lost Carménère, many wine drinkers have not encountered it. Photo by Ivory Leininger.Ĭarménère was dubbed Bordeaux’s “lost grape” in the late 1800s, after phylloxera, a root louse, nearly destroyed the vineyards of France between 18. a red blend called Cuvée Rouge that leads off with 50% Carménère and a rosé of Carménère. At his Kennewick, WA., production facility, Fawbush produces wines made from 100% Carménère. If there’s a Washington winemaker who’s truly fallen in love with Carménère, it’s probably Bart Fawbush of Bartholomew Winery.
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