Jeroboams Education is a new series on our blog providing you with the lowdown on the most iconic wine producing regions of the world, along with fundamental information on the production of beer, cider, wine and spirits. Led by our super buying team, Peter Mitchell MW, Maggie MacPherson and James Phillips will introduce you to the key facts and a little history of all the regions, styles and types you recognise but perhaps don’t know too well. To help really further your education, why not drink along? Browse our Wines.

Introduction

All keen gardeners will know the pain of popping down to the allotment and seeing that Peter rabbit has been at your carrots, turbo the snail has feasted on your lettuce, and there seems to be a plague of aphids hell bent on sucking your raspberry plants dry. Well, the same goes for grape growers, although I hazard on a slightly larger and more costly basis. So devastating can these pests and diseases be that one such pest, Phylloxera, almost devastated the entire European wine industry in the late 19th century, and still affects regions today such as Yarra Valley in Australia. Before we jump into the nitty gritty, it’s worth understanding the differences between pests and diseases. A pest is defined as an organism that occurs where it is not wanted or an organism that has a detrimental effect on the vines. There are two kind of pests; physical pests (such as deer), and those pests which transmit diseases. When it comes to diseases, these can be broadly split into fungal/bacterial or viral diseases. Below we’ll focus on the current pests and diseases which winemakers need to tackle each vintage.