1878–1885 · France
Downy mildew arrives, and Bordeaux mixture answers it
A second American fungus arrived on phylloxera-resistant rootstock imports, and the fungicide developed against it is still used.
What happened
Downy mildew reached France in the late 1870s, carried on the very American vine material being imported to combat phylloxera. It attacks leaves and fruit and requires warmth and moisture, which made it devastating in humid regions.
The remedy was found, according to the standard account, when Millardet noticed that Bordeaux vines treated with a copper sulfate and lime mixture to deter theft were free of the disease.
"Bordeaux mixture" became the standard treatment and remains in use, including in organic viticulture, where copper is one of the few permitted fungicides — and where its accumulation in soil is now a live concern.
It is a compact illustration of how vineyard problems cascade: the solution to one imported pest imported another.
The vines-marked-to-deter-theft story is the standard account and is plausible, but it rests on a single retrospective telling and should be read as attested tradition rather than documented fact.
How firmly this is dated
Documented. Recorded contemporaneously. The date is not in question.
Contemporary agricultural literature and Millardet’s published account.
People: Pierre-Marie-Alexis Millardet
What this follows from, and leads to
A timeline is a list; these are the links between its entries.
Sources
Sources consulted
- INRAE — French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment — INRAE
- UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology — University of California, Davis
- The Oxford Companion to Wine — Oxford University Press
Along the timeline
Before · 1872
Bettino Ricasoli sets down a Chianti formula
A recipe combining Sangiovese with other varieties defined Chianti for a century — including the white grapes later removed.
After · c. 1869–1890
Grafting settles the phylloxera argument
After a decade of failed chemical remedies, grafting European varieties onto American roots became the answer — over fierce opposition.