In the mid-1860s, grapevines in southeastern France inexplicably began to wither and die.
Jules- mile Planchon, a botanist from Montpellier, was sent to investigate.
He discovered that the vine roots were covered in microscopic yellow insects.
What they were and where they had come from was a mystery.
The infestation advanced with the relentlessness of an invading army and within a few years had spread across Europe, from Portugal to the Crimea.
The wine industry was on the brink of disaster.
The French government offered a prize of three hundred thousand gold francs for a remedy.
Planchon believed he had the answer and set out to prove it.
Gripping and intoxicating, The Botanist and the Vintner brings to life one of the most significant, though little-known, events in the history of wine.
Algonquin Books The botanist and the vintner: how wine was saved for the world, paperback/christy campbell
