Skip to main content
University of California Press
Cart(opens in new window)
Download Cover Image(opens in new window)Download Flyer Google Books Preview(opens in new window)

Dying on the Vine

How Phylloxera Transformed Wine
by George D. Gale (Author)
Hardcover eBook
Price: $85.00 / £71.00
Publication Date: Jul 2011
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 336
ISBN: 9780520265486
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Illustrations: 21 b/w photographs, 2 line illustrations, 5 maps, 3 tables
Request an Exam or Desk Copy(opens in new window)RightsLink(opens in new window)
Recommend to your Library (PDF)(opens in new window)Rights and Permissions

About the Book

Dying on the Vine chronicles 150 years of scientific warfare against the grapevine’s worst enemy: phylloxera. In a book that is highly relevant for the wine industry today, George Gale describes the biological and economic disaster that unfolded when a tiny, root-sucking insect invaded the south of France in the 1860s, spread throughout Europe, and journeyed across oceans to Africa, South America, Australia, and California—laying waste to vineyards wherever it landed. He tells how scientists, viticulturalists, researchers, and others came together to save the world’s vineyards and, with years of observation and research, developed a strategy of resistance. Among other topics, the book discusses phylloxera as an important case study of how one invasive species can colonize new habitats and examines California’s past and present problems with it.

About the Author

George Gale is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the author of Theory of Science. He has written about phylloxera for The World of Fine Wine magazine and other publications.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Disaster Strikes: “All your vines are fatally condemned to disappear, Monsieur”
2. La Defense: Sand, Submersion, and Sulfiding
3. La Reconstitution
4. The Underground Battle: Grafting on American Rootstock
5. Phylloxera Makes the European Grand Tour
6. The Bug Goes South: New Venues, Same Story
7. The Old Americans, or How the Fox Conquered Europe
8. Phylloxera Breaks Out (Twice) in California

Conclusion

Appendix A. Life Cycle of Phylloxera
Appendix B. American Wild Grape Species
Appendix C. Old American Varieties

Glossary
Bibliography
Index

Reviews

"Explores the crisis with fresh details and stunning insights. Nominated for a 2012 IACP Award, Dying on the Vine is an excellent and immendsely readable history of wine and its continuing transformation in the wake of an environmental disaster."
— Zester Daily
"Fascinating. . . . [Gale] brings fresh insights to the tale."
— The Economist
“[A] fine reference for the botanically inclined and researcher alike. So why dwell on a plague that happened almost 150 years ago? Because it is still with us, waiting to mutate, as it did in California in the 1980s, eventually destroying thousands of acres of vines.”
— Wine Spectator
“A fantastic book and was a great read from cover to cover. I even found myself reading each of the three appendices, which is something I wouldn’t normally do if I did not enjoy the subject matter or the author’s writing abilities. . . . If you’re at all interested in the history of wine, ecology, entomology, or just overall good writing, I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book!”
— The Academic Wino
“Describes for the first time in great detail the worldwide grape blight of the late 19th century.”
— College & Research Libraries News
“It should be read not just by curious wine drinkers, but also by those with a serious interest in the history of plant disease and how communities respond to a major threat to their livelihood.”
— Agricultural History
“A fascinating read for anyone interested in grapevines and/or the philosophy of science, and it is a must read for scientists striving to solve fundamental and practical problems of vineyard grapevines.”
— Choice
“Now the classic book on phylloxera."
— Isis
“This book offers a comprehensive account and analysis of the phylloxera blight that caused devastation and tremendous upheavals, both positive and negative, across the entire the world of wine from the late nineteenth century. George Gale is a philosopher with a serious knowledge of wine, and this is an impressively detailed and thorough account not merely of the viticultural effects of the bug but also of the political, social, scientific, economic and cultural consequences of its ravages.”
— Metascience
“This thoroughly researched history tracks the progress of the epidemic and describes how, in the end, complete disaster was averted. . . . Not too many histories tout a bug as their villain, but there is no lack of twists and turns in the saga of the sinister vastatrix and the ingenious men who fought it, if not to the death, at least to a standstill.”
— Winestate Magazine
“George Gale’s book, a scientific whodunit, will certainly become the standard work on the little yellow bug that caused such devastation for winemakers from 1867 to recent times. It’s a tale well told about a small group of scientists who fought a lonely battle against both the devastator and an arrogant academic establishment.”-George M. Taber, author of Judgment of Paris--California vs France and the 1976 Wine Tasting That Revolutionized Wine

Awards

  • Finalist in History for the IACP Cookbook Awards 2012, International Association of Culinary Professionals
  • Finalist for the Louis Roederer International Wine Book of the Year 2012, Louis Roederer International Wine Writers’ Awards