France will continue to protect wine lovers by replanting its vast gene pool of half the grape varieties in the world.
Its initial effort to preserve global wine diversity for the future began in the mid-1800s as a result of the devastating Phylloxera epidemic which decimated French vineyards.
Later in 1949 it replanted the stock it collected on sandy soil on the country’s south coast, adding some 80 new varieties every year.
The gene pool now contains 7,500 types, many rare and some nearly extinct, from 54 countries.
Today the collection is under a new threat – fears that global warming will bring rising water levels which would submerge the vines as they are currently just one metre above the sea level.
So, after much debate, the entire collection will be moved to a spot about 30 metres above sea level on a while chalk cliff at Gruissan in the Aude department of southern France.
The site’s 163 hectares, coming at a cost of €3 million, will be used for replanting the vines, to expanding the assortment and to experimenting on grapes which are threatened with global warming.
The replanting is expected to take place over the course of five years, beginning in 2018.
