The French wine harvest 2014 has largely given the wine producers adequate quantity and a good quality. But all is not rosy in the vineyard. There is a disease that wreaks havoc in the vineyards and it is believed that this disease now affects 12% of the French total vineyard surface. And it is growing. The disease in question is not really one, but several fungal diseases that attack the vine itself.
The worst of these is esca. Vines affected by esca become weaker and weaker and die after a few years. No cure exists at present but wine growers hope that the research that is being done soon will get a breakthrough. 12% is almost 100 000 hectares, which is equivalent to nearly the whole of Bordeaux, so it is easy to understand the wine producers’ concern.
