Phylloxera - Wines That Survived Phylloxera

Wines That Survived Phylloxera

According to wine critic and author Kerin O'Keefe, thanks to tiny parcels of vineyards throughout Europe which were inexplicably unscathed, it is still possible to get a taste of wines as they were before the phylloxera devastation.

For no obvious reason, three tiny parcels of ungrafted Pinot Noir escaped phylloxera, making it possible to produce one of the rarest and most expensive Champagnes available: Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises. The VVF is decidedly fuller bodied and richer than Champagne from grafted vines.

A rare vintage port is made from ungrafted vines grown on a small parcel, called Nacional, in the heart of the Quinta do Noval estate. Again, no plausible reason exists why this plot survived while others succumbed. According to Kerin O'Keefe the tiny production yields a port with an astonishingly rich, velvety concentration and ripe but refined fruit.

Another vineyard untouched by the blight is the Lisini estate in Montalcino: a half-hectare vineyard of Sangiovese, with vines dating back to the mid-1800s, which inexplicably never succumbed to phylloxera. Since 1985 the winery has produced a few precious bottles of Prefillossero. The wine has devout followers, including Italian wine critic Luigi Veronelli, who inscribed on a bottle of the 1987, on show at the winery, that drinking Prefillossero was like listening to ‘the earth singing to the sky’. According to Kerin O'Keefe the wine is complex and subtle, more elegant than powerful with a bouquet of balsamic herbs and violets and smooth tannins combined with sharp acidity.