Hybrid Warfare: Lilian Bauchet on Flavescence Dorée
The Beaujolais vigneron's June 3rd Facebook essay. Plus: a chat with Burgundy vigneron Emmanual Giboulot. And dinner at Autour de l'Âtre, the hottest new restaurant in south Jura.
On June 3rd, Beaujolais vigneron Lilian Bauchet published an eloquent call-to-arms on Facebook arguing for the potential of hybrid grape varieties in the ever-expanding fight against the deadly vine malady flavescence dorée.
Shared dozens of times, Bauchet’s post struck a chord among like-minded organic vignerons wishing to avoid the obligatory insecticide treatments presently imposed by French agricultural authorities in sectors where the leafhopper that carries the virus is present. Below, with Bauchet’s permission, is an English translation.
For casual wine lovers, vine genetics and vine maladies can seem like obscure topics. I found Bauchet’s post notable - and worth sharing - for its concision and erudition. He provides a clear précis of the issue’s cultural and environmental stakes, while citing, for support, researchers at France’s National Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Research, the ampelographer Pierre Galet, and the painter Cézanne.1
For NOT DRINKING POISON subscribers, a few other new reports:
A VINEYARD TOUR in Lancié with LILIAN BAUCHET, who offers an ALTERNATIVE HISTORY of HYBRID VINES in France.
An INTERVIEW with biodynamic Burgundy vigneron EMMANUEL GIBOULOT, who faced down the threat of PRISON in 2013-2014 for refusing to spray insecticides against the threat of FLAVESCENCE DOREE.
A dinner at AUTOUR DE L’ATRE, the ambitious new SOUTH JURA locavore natural wine dining destination by AGAPE alum GABRIEL GUINNEBAULT. (No paywall.)
Keep an eye out, in the coming weeks, for the second half of the Burgundy double-issue. And, perhaps, some adventures in the south of France. If you find yourself on the continent in July, don’t forget the double-whammy of excellent salons in Alsace, Summer Fascht and the Salon des Vins Libres.
Many thanks for reading, as always. Stay cool out there!
LILIAN BAUCHET: FOR EVERY PROBLEM, A SOLUTION
Originally published on Facebook on June 3rd, 2022. Translated and shared with permission.
Present for a few years in Beaujolais, flavescence dorée has appeared in the sector where my vines are situated since last year. It’s a particularly serious viral disease that can cause vines to die. It’s transmitted by an herbivorous insect, the leafhopper Scaphoideus titanus, which feeds on vine leaves.
This disease, which appeared in the South-West of France at the end of the 1950s by the accidental introduction of this insect of American origin, spreads from year to year to the entire vineyard. The only way to contain the disease is to enact insecticide treatments, which, by limiting the population of leafhoppers, slow the spread of the disease without however managing to completely eradicate it. Scientists have estimated a propagation of x 18 without treatments. Europe has classified flavescence dorée as a quarantine disease, and local prefects impose on winegrowers in contaminated areas, by decree, mandatory insecticide treatments, which start in my sector at the beginning of June.
These obligatory treatments are not conducted unquestioningly among winegrowers, especially among those working organically, because the only organic-approved insecticide, PYREVERT, based on pyrethrum, has a very broad spectrum; if it limits the population of leafhoppers, it also has a deleterious effect on other insects present in the vines. At a time when farmers are asked to rationalize their practices to better maintain biodiversity, it is an exception that many winegrowers have difficulty overcoming, and this obligation to treat with insecticides is fueling controversy.
The principle of vine farming is always the same. For every problem, a solution. A chemical one… And it has been going on for more than 150 years, since the introduction of American diseases in our vineyards…
"Art is a harmony parallel to nature" : I heard this Cézanne quote pronounced for the first time by Jacques Néauport, who, paraphrasing the painter, meant that the art of winemaking should also be a harmony parallel to nature. This is the path taken by more and more winegrowers. I now dream that this work undertaken in the cellar now finds its extension in the vineyard: that viticulture, the art of the vine, should also be a harmony parallel to nature.
Some readers might see where I’m going with this: I think the only possibility of getting out of this excessively long period of intensive use of chemicals and its deleterious consequences is to renew our plantings to cultivate new grape varieties which will be naturally resistant to pathogens in the ecosystem of the vine. Because if resistant grape varieties make it possible to drastically limit the use of organic or synthetic pesticides to fight against mildew and oidium, they can also be effective against flavescence dorée.
The ampelographer Pierre Galet informs us in his work on "diseases and parasites of the vine" that Villard blanc, an old French hybrid grape variety, is completely asymptomatic to the disease. Whether it’s a healthy carrier, or whether it owes this resistance to the insect's lack of appetite for its foliage, the result is the same: Villard blanc makes it possible to produce grapes without having to use insecticides in a place where the leafhopper is nonetheless present.
I questioned an INRAE2 researcher specializing in the fight against flavescence dorée to find out which hybrid grape varieties best resist flavescence. Work is underway, she replied, but only for the new “Resdur” varieties created by the INRAE. I hope this work will be completed soon. In any case, this study was done for the principal rootstocks and it revealed they were very little susceptible to the disease. It is therefore a safe bet that this resistance is also present in a number of hybrid grape varieties which share with rootstocks the same American parentage.
In 1926, a root rot, caused by a fungus, Periconia circinata, caused catastrophic damage to sorghum crops in Kansas. Four years later, two surviving, normal-looking plants were found in an infected plot. A resistant line was produced from these plants and is still cultivated today. When the disease appeared in other regions, a low proportion of resistant plants was also found in each local variety, making it possible to remedy this serious disease quickly and effectively.
Nature does the work of selection herself, provided we let her.
With the vine, we refuse to apply the same logic. Thus for several centuries we have been cloning the vine by vegetative propagation, with cuttings, when everything else around it, within its ecosystems, is evolving. I can understand the deep attachment of some winegrowers to their grape varieties. I am aware of the economic constraints. There is in particular the real estate, whose delirious prices on the greatest terroirs, intimately linked to the grape varieties which are cultivated there, prevents the winegrowers from having the openness of mind necessary for a change of grape variety.
But how much longer are we going to consider that the only possible response to any introduction of a new pathogen within the vine ecosystem must be exclusively chemical? Do we really still have time to treat ourselves to this “luxury”? And shouldn't the INRAE pull out all the stops to inform winegrowers as quickly as possible of the effective resistance of the various hybrid grape varieties listed in the catalogue, rather than leaving us, today, obliged to treat our vines with great blows of insecticides?
Sophie et Lilian Bauchet
1789 rue de Flurieux
01140 MOGNENEINS
FURTHER READING
A Plan B For the Beaujolais: A visit to Bauchet’s parcel of souvignier gris and muscaris in Lancié that yields his cuvée “Plan B.”
A Citizens’ Movement: Emmanuel Giboulot looks back on his 2013-2014 stand against mandatory insecticide treatments in the Côte d’Or.
A Brief History of Bojalien, the influential Beaujolais natural wine tasting, of which Bauchet is a co-organizer.
France’s Hybrid Natural Wine Vanguard
The Obscenity of Tradtion: An interview with Bauchet’s fellow hybrid variety proponent Didier Grappe
It helps that Bauchet produces a stunning white wine from hybrid grapes, proving it can be done, even in a place like the Beaujolais, which is, to put it mildly, not otherwise known for its quality white wines.
Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement.
perhaps try crus et découvertes or chambre noire cave on rue de la folie mericourt ? but not sure what they have in stock in that regard
Hey Aaron! Do you have any recommendations for wine shops or bars in Paris at which one can buy and sample hybrid wines from France? Thank you!