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Kulture: When Grapes Wither on the Vine: A Community Divided

Napa. A new technology has divided a community of grape farmers in the wine dark hills of Napa California. Scientists have uncovered a chemical (a complex sugar), which when injected into grape seeds causes the vine (genus vitus, family vitceaea) to wither right along with the unharvested grape. One of the advocates of the new technology is Carrie Watts who runs Hogs Creek Vineyard in Napa, and is treasurer of the Sippers LTD, and influential tasting club and tourist magnet. “Every year we have grapes withering on the vine,” says viticulturalist Carrie Watts, who runs a small winery in Napa, California. “Tsk. We dont use all the grapes every year, and cant always pay to have them picked, so they just wither.” Watts plans to use the genetically modified vines next season. “If we could get the whole thing to wither at once, we could just get it all done with sooner.” Not all of the growers are as enthusiastic. Fredrick Joost of Friends of the Vine, an advocacy group for growers says that if everything withers at once it could cause havoc and loss of balance in the larger ecological system. Joost has come out firmly against withering. And his campaign “Wither not!”, is recruiting others. It is an exercise in democracy, said French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac, who owns a currently unharvested plot nearby. “Super” says Chirac “in vino veritas.”