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62 WINES&VINES June 2016 GRAPEGROWING WINE EAST call the three T's: timing, target and technique. It is also nice to have the right equipment. Pierce's disease influence in Alabama's past First noted by the French, Pierce's disease has a long and insidious past here in Alabama. After the Napole- onic Wars, parts of Napoleon's army were exiled to south-central Ala- bama, where they were given land. They promptly tried to grow vinifera wine grapes and olives. It was too cold for olives, and the wine grapes died of what they called "blight." The blight, in reality, was PD. It should be noted that during this period, the records highlight how hard the French women worked in the fields, and how their efforts were a testa- ment to their character. A second attempt to grow wine grapes was undertaken by a Euro- pean colony in what is now Fruit- hurst, Ala. They had greater success, and the site grew into a thriving town with numerous hotels and sev- eral large wineries. The grapes they grew evidently had some tolerance to PD and, as a result, the vines died a much slower death, due in part to the cooler climate and higher alti- tude of northern Alabama. The colony in Fruithurst shipped large quantities of table grapes and wine to the Northern cities. The demise of this grape production area came as a result of Prohibition. There is an interesting anecdote from the end of the grapegrowing hay day. The story is that at the be- ginning of Prohibition, a Baptist mob of maybe 40 to 50 individuals whipped up by religious fervor were marching from the small town of Heflin, Ala., to Fruithurst with the intent of smashing the evil wineries. As they strolled into town, large European workers poured out of the hotels and wineries armed with pistols, grape knives, clubs, large punchdown tools and their bare fists ready for a brawl. It was at that point the Baptist mob did an about face, never missing a step or a word as they praised Jesus all the way back to where they came from. Today's PD-resistant wine grapes in Alabama There is now a small vineyard lo- cated at the Auburn University Experiment Station in Clanton, Ala., with three different PD-resis- tant clones—502-10 (a red Char- donnay), 502-01 (Chardonnay) and 501-12 (Syrah)—from the University of California, Davis. All are grafted onto Dog Ridge root- stocks. These clones were trans- ferred to Auburn University in 2010 under the supervision of Dr. Andrew Walker, professor of viti- culture in the UC Davis Depart- ment of Viticulture and Enology. The project was a cooperative effort by UC Davis, Auburn Univer- sity and the Alabama Wineries and Grape Growers Association. Some of the members of the association have educational roots in Califor- nia and have followed Dr. Walker's work with PD-resistant grapes very closely. They were thrilled with every written word, not to mention the progress being made. We think that Alabama will be a true test for these PD-resistant clones. To date, not a single vine has shown any symptoms of PD, and we have not lost a single plant. The next logical phase for us in Alabama was to start laying the foundation for commercial plant- ings. We requested approval to con- duct small commercial experimental plantings, and two Alabama winer- ies—White Oak Vineyards in An- niston and Jules J. Berta Vineyards - B E C O PA D - Y E A S T & E N Z Y M E S - C R U S H PA D E Q U I P M E N T - S T E R I L E F I LT R AT I O N - W I N E R Y H O S E - O A K A LT E R N AT I V E S EASTERN WINE LABS Serving the Analytical needs of East Coast Wineries WWW.EASTERNWINELABS.COM Ph 609-859-4302 Cell 609-668-2854 chemist@easternwinelabs.com AOAC Member EasternWineLab_Mar09.qxp 1/22/09 9:47 AM Page 1 Bird Netting PD-RESISTANT VINES AT WHITE OAK VINEYARDS Cultivar Parentage Wine color Number planted Number approved 501-12 A81-138 x Syrah Red 500 600 502-10 A81-138 x Chardonnay Red 500 600 502-20 A81-138 x Chardonnay White 130 600 502-38 A81-138 x Chardonnay Red Spring 2017 600 0505-35 A81-138 x Cabernet Sauvignon Red Spring 2017 600 Randal Wilson, owner of White Oak Vineyards, plans to continue planting wine grape cultivars resistant to Pierce's disease at his property in Anniston, Ala.