Time - Man of the Year/Time_Man_of_the_Year_Compact_Publishing_3YX-Disc-1_Compact_Publishing_1993.iso/moy/092192/0921994.000

Text File | 1993-04-08 | 5KB | 115 lines

                                                                                AGRICULTURE, Page 61

Trouble at the Roots


New strains of a louse are chewing up California's finest
vineyards, but that could lead to better wines someday

By JOHN ELSON - With reporting by David S. Jackson/Rutherford


    In Napa and Sonoma counties, heartland of California's
$730 million-a-year wine industry, prospects are promising for
a bumper harvest this fall. Beneath the deceptively lush
surface of the peaceful vineyards, however, an expensive
disaster looms. Billions of microscopic parasites called
phylloxeras are munching away at the roots of the grape-bearing
stalks. While no threat to human health, within a decade the
tiny insects could eat their way through 50,000 acres of the
nation's finest vineyards. Estimates of the total damage,
including the cost of replanting with Phylloxera-resistant
stalks, range from $500 million to more than $1 billion.

    That is the bad news. The good news is that the crisis
will force growers to replace their diseased vines with new,
better quality grapes that can flourish in the region's wide
range of microclimates, which feature coastal fog as well as
baking heat. Some unprofitable and marginally successful
varietals will probably disappear, at least in Napa and Sonoma.
But vintners insist that they will soon be able to produce more
of the premier wines consumers want -- notably Chardonnay and
Cabernet Sauvignon.

    This is not the first time grape growers have fought this
burrowing louse, which is indigenous to North America east of
the Rockies. In the late 19th century, phylloxeras somehow
spread to vineyards in Europe and California, devastating more
than 2.5 million acres in France alone. What finally brought the
plague under control was the discovery that classic European
varietals like Chardonnay could be successfully grafted onto
native American rootstalks that resisted the voracious bug.

    In rebuilding the American wine industry, growers tested
a number of rootstalks. A majority settled on a variety called
AXR#1 because it suited California's conditions so well, even
though it was not totally immune to the phylloxeras. In 1979 a
Napa County farmer noticed that his vines were thinning out and
called in experts from the department of oenology at the
University of California at Davis. They concluded that the
phylloxeras had mutated into a new, prolific biotype that
threatened all AXR#1 rootstalks. Reproducing asexually, one
insect can spawn a billion offspring annually.

    In California as well as in Washington and Oregon, where
phylloxeras have also been spotted, the lice feed on roots as
deep as 6 ft. beneath the soil, leaving them susceptible to soil
fungus and other infections. Roots under attack become swollen
and deformed; eventually the vine and its grapes shrivel and
die. Says Ed Weber, a Napa County viticultural adviser: "It
looks like someone took a blowtorch to them."

    The University of California has set up a Phylloxera Task
Force, but no chemical treatment has proved effective against
this new biotype, and experts cannot rule out further
mutations. In fact, another strain of the louse has been found
in central California and as far south as Santa Barbara. For
farmers the safest solution is to rip out their AXR#1 and
replant with one of a dozen or so other rootstalks that appear
to be more resistant to the mutations, at least so far. After
replanting, it takes three years for a vine to produce mature,
harvestable grapes.

    The expense of replacing rootstalks may drive some
vineyards into bankruptcy. And with land costing as much as
$50,000 an acre, the survivors will have to practice a form of
economic triage in deciding what grapes to grow. Robert Parker
Jr., America's leading wine critic, recently praised a dry
Sonoma white made from a relatively cheap and underrated
varietal called Chenin Blanc. But Michael Martini, winemaker at
the family-owned Louis M. Martini vineyard, predicts that Chenin
Blanc will disappear from prime acreage in Napa and Sonoma
counties, along with such other marginal varietals as
Gewurztraminer, Johannisberg Riesling and Gamay Beaujolais. "The
price of land is too high to grow those crops," he says. "You
can't get your money back." Martini, which once produced 26
different wines, will soon have only 10.

    While the less profitable varietals may survive elsewhere
in California, Napa and Sonoma growers will concentrate on the
big-money crops: primarily Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay,
but also Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel and Merlot.
Replanting also means that growers can take advantage of new
theories about draining and trellising to plant more vines per
acre without diluting the grapes' character or intensity.
"We're in the crucible right now," says James Allen, president
of Napa's Sequoia Grove Vineyards, "but when we come out of it,
we'll be light-years ahead of the French."

    Some vintners foresee 1995 and 1996 as the worst years of
the crisis, when a drop in production will lead to a rise in
retail prices, particularly for premier whites. After that, more
prolific vines and keener competition could result in lower
prices for better wines. If that proves true, oenophiles may
someday want to toast the little pests that ate the vineyards.