Feature Article

Life in the Post-Phylloxera Era

What exactly has phylloxera wrought?

by Alan Goldfarb
November 18, 2008

The ravages of phylloxera, “was the most significant event in my 30 years of farming.”

So proclaims Flora Springs vineyard manager Pat Garvey, who farms 270 organic acres over eight different vineyards in five of the Napa Valley’s 14 sub-appellations. His comment reminded me that we’re almost exactly 20 years into the “Post-Phylloxera Era”, which produced a sea-change in the way we think about wine.

remember when I first began writing about phylloxera around 1991, I warned that “your wines are about to get more expensive” because of it, and that due to the enormous capital outlay to replant, we were going to see a lot of fallout as wineries would go belly up.

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