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June 8, 2018

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Potential number of millions of bottles of Champagne that now won’t ever become a reality thanks to a series of hailstorms that have devastated whole swaths of the region over the last several weeks. Some 2,500 acres of vines have been completely stripped of flowers that, had they survived and pollinated, would have become grapes.

Which country below is the only major wine producing country in the world not to have been seriously affected by the lethal insect phylloxera?

A. New Zealand

B. Chile

C. South Africa

D. Portugal

B.

Phylloxera—a tiny, yellow, insect—has spread through much of the world, destroying vineyards in its wake as the insects feed on vines’ roots, ultimately sucking the life out of the plants. However, a phylloxera epidemic has not (some would say not yet) hit Chile. Secluded on the western coast of South America, Chile is hemmed in by the Andes Mountains to the east, the Atacama Desert to the north, and Antarctica to the south. The country’s physical isolation, dry climate, sandy soils, and use of flood irrigation all have helped protect against phylloxera.

“We entered the wine industry when there were no wine magazines, no wine critics, no 100-point scale—all 23 of us vintners in the Napa Valley in the 1960s. What we learned, we learned from the vineyard itself. Back then, it seemed like less was better.”

— Janet Trefethen (Trefethen Family Vineyards is 50 years old this year)

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