Also known as "grapevine flavescence dorée phytoplasma", this relatively new vine disease was probably introduced to Europe in the 1940s from eastern North America in the Great Lakes region. It first appeared here on a massive scale in the early 1950s in France-Armagnac and then spread epidemically across southern France, Italy and Spain. Corsica was hit particularly hard because grape varieties particularly susceptible to the disease are cultivated here. It seems to be favoured in warmer regions, and the strong spread may also be due to climate change. Individual observations with similar symptoms have also been made in Germany.
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Thomas Götz
Weinberater, Weinblogger und Journalist; Schwendi