It would be particularly ugly if French wine makers showed ingratitude toward the U.S. after a Texan saved the European wine industry.
That's not hyperbole, it really happened. The hyperbole about French-American viticulture relations came last week via a tweet from President Donald Trump:
"On Trade, France makes excellent wine, but so does the U.S. The problem is that France makes it very hard for the U.S. to sell its wines into France, and charges big Tariffs, whereas the U.S. makes it easy for French wines, and charges very small Tariffs. Not fair, must change!"
That sounds just terrible except, according to California wine trade group the Wine Institute, the actual tariff situation is not nearly so dramatic.
And even if you select French wine, you might be drinking from grape vines that originated in Texas. When French vineyards in 1880 faced destruction by the phylloxera root louse, a Texas horticulturist named T.V. Munson found a solution. According to a post on the Texas A&M Aggie Horticulture website, Munson knew that Texas rootstocks were resistant to phylloxera, and he suggested grafting the Texas root stocks with French vines. Voila! French vines adopted Texas resistance to the insect.
Editorial on 11/17/2018