Articles de presse : TIME
Articles time
TIME AUGUST 10, 2009
Growth Potential The future of French wine may lie in its forgotten part
IT TOOK BUT A HANDFUL OF SMALL, yellow insects hitchhiking on an American grapevine imported around 1850 to change French wine forever. In the aftermath of the phylloxera blight, which devastated vineyards across the country, multitudes of native varietals were never replanted in favor of others more productive or disease-resistant. Since then, more still have been abandoned as French winemakers, like those the world over, began growing the likes of chardonnay and merlot to offer standardized global bouquets. Today, though, a few are seeking to rise above the glut, by bringing back the forgotten varietals of France's viticultural past --some, of which have survived in institutional collections, others in obscure patches of remote vineyards.
Standing among his knotted, 160-year-old Romorantin vines on e recent summer day in Soings en-Sologne, central France, winemaker Henry Marionnet recalled the words of the expert who authenticated the plot's age a decade ago: "You are in the presence of an eternal vine."
