expensive wines

[tomstevenson]

The infamous American louse was first identified in England in 1863, which is the earliest that it is thought that Phylloxera could have started to infest French vineyards (at Chateau de Clary in Lirac, Rhone), although it was not actually verified as phylloxera in France until 1868 (by Planchard). However, as wineoweenie points out, the effects of this darned bug were not felt for some time. In fact, the combination of the time it took for Phylloxera to get established (recently affected ungrafted vines were still being replanted in first decade of the 20th century) and the considerably more mature age at which wines were consumed at the time (hence the much greater ratio of stocks to sales that were necessary) meant that there would be no noticeable affect on what our vampire friend would consume in the 1860s or, indeed, for the next three or four decades to follow.

[This message has been edited by tomstevenson (edited 07-31-2000).]