When the glassy-winged sharpshooter was just a problem in Florida, it wasn’t a big issue for the wine industry because, well, they don’t make millions of cases of Chardonnay in Florida. Once it hit California, the little bug became a big issue. The European grapevine moth was a constant threat in—you guessed it—Europe for many years before it hit California’s North Coast, at which point it prompted quarantine and lots of research funding. Botrytis was another one of these far-away concerns, something growers worried about in France or Oregon or upstate New York; some folks in California were even frustrated about the relative absence of the “good” botrytis, the kind that makes heavenly dessert wines.

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