Mold, Mildew and Fungus attacks French vineyards
Pastor Dale Morgan
Mold, Mildew and Fungus attacks French vineyards*
By Henry Samuel in Paris
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 11/07/2007
The 2007 vintages in Bordeaux and several other regions are threatened
with disaster as grapevines are hit by a plague of Mold, Mildew and
Fungus brought on by unseasonable weather conditions in France, wine
officials warned yesterday.
The harvest of vineyards from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Champagne
and the Loire have already been wiped out by the fungus, which is
thriving due to unusually high rainfall and warm temperatures. Only
Provence and the southwestern Languedoc-Roussillon region have been spared.
In many cases, the harvest can only now be saved by consistently warm
and dry conditions until September.
Powdery mildew first attacks the vine leaves, which turn brown and wilt,
before moving onto the grapes, which split and fall to the ground. It
can also produce unpleasant flavours in wine made from infected grapes.
The disease spreads fast between grapes that have swollen in humid
conditions.
Organic wine growers have suffered the most. "I will have no harvest,
nothing this year. Everything has been attacked by the mildew," Didier
Michaud, an organic wine producer, told the newspaper Libération. His
1.7 hectares (4.2 acres) of vines have been severely damaged. "I still
have one tiny plot but I'm under no illusions," he said.
His neighbour has already lost 37 acres. Insurance does not cover mildew
attacks. Last year, the fungus was killed off by a run of warm weather.
"This year, the rains are regular and uninterrupted, so there is no time
for the grapes to dry," said Eric Maille, an agronomist from the Gironde
area.
In several regions, organic growers are exceptionally resorting to
spraying anti-fungal chemicals on their vines to ward off the disease.