Uncover the dramatic 19th-century saga of the tiny insect that nearly annihilated Europe’s wine industry. This episode narrates how the phylloxera epidemic destroyed roughly two-thirds of European vineyards, throwing growers into crisis, and how an international rescue – grafting European vines onto resilient American rootstocks – saved wine from extinction. 

Taste an old-vine wine from an ungrafted vineyard (perhaps from phylloxera-free islands or Chile) as you imagine the flavors of a world before this plague – and appreciate the innovation that preserved wine for the future.