Bordeaux, in the South of France, is known as a world capital of wines.

But did you know that between 1875 to 1892, almost all Bordeaux vineyards were ruined by Phylloxera infestations? Phylloxera was first introduced to Europe when English botanists started collecting specimens of American vines that happened to carry these nasty guys in the 1850s. By the late 1800s the pest had spread and killed between 2/3 and 9/10 of producing grape vines in Europe.

Believe it or not, it was actually vines from America (Augusta, Missouri to be exact!) that saved and stabilized all of wine production in Bordeaux. In fact, all Bordeaux vines that survive to this day trace back to the native vines that were grafted to American rootstock, which are naturally resistant to the pest.

These two engravings date to the exact time of the Phylloxera epidemic, just after the Franco-Prussian War, and neither feature any grape vines. COINCIDENCE??

Prints sold separately.

Print A:

Gironde-Grand Theatre de Bordeaux Engraved by Alfred W. Formster. After Francois-Alexandre Pernot. ca.1885.

SKU: 21V18135

Print B:

Bordeaux Engraved and drawn by the brothers Rouargue: Emile (ca. 1795-1865), Adolphe (1810-1870), French engravers. 1876.

SKU: 21V18134