The crisis of the phylloxera in French vineyards

With an area of ​​nearly 2,500,000 hectares in the mid-19th century, the French vineyard was the largest in the world, and its economic importance was considerable. However, from the early 1865, the French vineyard was invaded by a small aphid, originating from the United States of America, which destroyed the roots of the vines and thus destroyed the entire wine production of France in a few years, leading to the ruin of French winemakers. This is how what was called the "phylloxera crisis of the vine" was born, with significant economic consequences. The fight against this terrible parasite, long and difficult, led by the scientists and French winemakers of the time, lasted a quarter of a century and ended with the adoption of grafting old European grape varieties onto American rootstocks resistant to phylloxera. The new French vineyard was thus able to be reconstituted and produce wine of the same quality as before the phylloxera. It is the complex synthesis of research and experimentation, pursued during this long period marked by a succession of failures and successes, that is the subject of this work, where the scientific, economic, sociological, and human aspects of this real epic are addressed.