[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” admin_label=”Section” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_fullwidth_image src=”https:\/\/sssasmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/MORTON-TOP-MUM_3869_1.jpg” title_text=”MORTON-TOP-MUM_3869_1″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_fullwidth_image][et_pb_fullwidth_header _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#68181a” custom_padding=”10px|10px|10px|10px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Lucie holding a bottle of wine from Europe that has one percent of the Cunningham grape in it\u2014a grape connected to her family that is now extinct in the United States. But Lucie has brought it home.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_fullwidth_header][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Title” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
As the camera follows Lucie Morton from an old Parisian vineyard to a wild cluster of roadside grapes on an island off the coast of Portugal, to her verdant family farm and vineyard on the banks of the Potomac River, one detail among many stands out: She is ardently curious. Squinting through a magnifier to discern the delicate patterns on a grape leaf, she observes thoughtfully. Visiting with grape growers, vineyard owners, and even with a Frenchman seeking to identify a mysterious grape leaf prospering on his patio trellis, she listens intently. An internationally renowned viticulturist, she has more than earned the right to indulge in showmanship, but she is far too interested in dirtying her hands\u2014that is to say, studying and solving the problems inherent in growing grapes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am a student of grapes,\u201d she explains. \u201cI just love the grapevine in all its forms.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The camera in question belongs to French documentary filmmaker St\u00e9phan Balay. Having immersed herself in the complexities and curiosities of turning grapes into wine for the last 50 years, as a research collaborator, teacher, writer, sought-after lecturer, and international vineyard consultant, Lucie couldn’t help but be drawn into a story St\u00e9phan was hoping she could shed light on.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Dabbling in documentaries is but one story in Lucie’s quietly stellar career. At 72, she has many to share.<\/p>\n Like how, after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in History, she returned to her family farm\u2014Morland\u2014at her father’s request, knowing next to nothing about wine, to \u201clook into grapes,\u201d as she remembers him saying. She never looked back. Or how, soon thereafter, she was accepted to the Cours Sup\u00e9rieur Internationale de Viticulture, a premier graduate program, spanning five countries, under the sponsorship of the world-renowned viticulture department at the agricultural university in Montpellier, France. At 26, she translated a seminal work by her Montpellier professor Pierre Galet, cementing her role at the time as one of the nation’s only ampelographers (a specialist in identifying grapes by their leaves). In the early 1990s, she predicted the demise of a popular Napa Valley rootstock to phylloxera, an insect that destroys vine roots. Later, she discovered a new rootstock disease altogether\u2014black goo, as she named it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Based in Charlottesville, Lucie is a problem solver not afraid to challenge convention. She has encouraged her U.S.-based clients, for example, to plant vines closer together, the more traditional European approach. She\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/sssasmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/MORTON-Portugal-Plants.jpg” title_text=”MORTON-Portugal-Plants” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#68181a” custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px|20px|0px|20px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Lucie visiting with Filipe Rocha of the Azores Wine Company<\/span> [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Pull Quote” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” header_3_font=”|300|||||||” header_3_text_color=”#536574″ header_3_font_size=”28px” custom_margin=”20px||20px||false|false” custom_padding=”20px||20px||false|false” border_width_top=”2px” border_color_top=”#68181a” border_width_bottom=”2px” border_color_bottom=”#68181a” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n ~STEPHEN ROSE, ROSEMONT VINEYARDS & WINERY,\u00a0LA CROSSE, VA.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n views grape growing as equal parts science experiment and pure adventure. As a student in Europe, she gamely endured jokes about her plans to return home to Virginia and make wine from the popular juice and jelly grape, Concord. \u201cHere is the Mademoiselle who will create coca cola from Vitis labrusca,\u201d she recalls them teasing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFor me, wine is all about, ‘Gosh, why does it taste this way? Where did the grapes grow? What are its roots like?’\u201d she explains. \u201cI am most interested in understanding the history, evolution, and diversity of grapes and the vines they grow on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Not surprisingly, in 2018, when St\u00e9phan wanted to interview Lucie for a documentary that would uncover the story behind the French government’s ban, in 1934, of several American grapes, she was intrigued. That 2019 award-winning film\u2014<\/span>Vitis Prohibita<\/span><\/a>\u2014led to a second film collaboration with St\u00e9phan, currently in the works, titled \u201c<\/span>Bon Voyage Vitis<\/span><\/a>.\u201d A precursor, of sorts, it follows Lucie across France, Madeira, the Azores, Missouri, New York, and her home state of Virginia as she explores how American grapes\u2014many extinct and no longer grown in the United States\u2014made the leap across the Atlantic to begin with.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_3,1_3,1_3″ use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/sssasmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/MORTON-with-Red-Wine.jpg” title_text=”MORTON-with-Red-Wine” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”|||0px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/sssasmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/MORTON-Bon-Voyage-2.jpg” title_text=”MORTON-Bon-Voyage-2″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”|0px|||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/sssasmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/MORTON-in-Portugal-2.jpg” title_text=”MORTON-in-Portugal-2″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”|||0px|false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Like all good problem solvers and researchers, Lucie’s involvement in Bon Voyage Vitis has illuminated far more than the story she set out to investigate. She came to learn that her own family history is closely entwined with the outlawed American grapes. And one in particular caught her attention: a 19th century French American varietal native to Virginia but extinct in the United States named Cunningham.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In order to uncover its link to her family, she had to first understand its birth on American soil, its arrival and\u2014later\u2014repudiation in France, and why it vanished in the United States altogether. And what if, she mused, she could bring Cunningham back, returning a centuries old vine to its native soil?<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Ever the history lover, Lucie revels in sharing what she has learned. She begins with the Tidewater region of Virginia in the early 1600s, when the only grapes growing were from wild, native vines. As European colonists began to arrive, they brought with them their own native grapes\u2014Vitis vinifera\u2014and planted them in America. The grape ferrying continued for more than 200 years.<\/p>\n Maladapted to the American climate, these European vines slowly succumbed to a variety of fungal diseases and insects, like phylloxera. But not before they had a chance to pollinate. Wind sent the vinifera seeds into the forest to interbreed with the wild American vines, which were naturally disease resistant.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In 1812, Jacob Cunningham, who happened to be the neighbor of one of Lucie’s ancestors, noticed such a hybrid vine growing in his backyard in Farmville, Va., south of Richmond. Beside it sprouted another vine with noticeably larger, dark red grapes. Lucie’s ancestor took a cutting to grow on his farm, calling it Cunningham.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Not only did European vines travel to America; the disease-resistant American hybrids made their way back to Europe, and to islands along trade routes in between. \u201cThey hopped a boat, jumped off in the Azores, and were taken on to Europe,\u201d Lucie explains. Unfortunately, in the mid-1850s, undetected phylloxera hopped a ride, too. While the American vines were impervious to its rampage, the European vineyards were devastated. Ironically, as many wine historians are quoted as saying, in the problem was the solution: Winemakers in Europe began grafting their vines onto the disease-proof American rootstocks. Crossbreeding also took place. The resulting healthy vines took hold.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#68181a” custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”20px|20px|20px|20px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n My St. Agnes experience was a big factor in my intellectual development. Back then, my procrastination was legendary and I was an academic underachiever. A few key inspirational teachers and an all-girls situation helped keep me focused, intellectually stimulated, and able to take leadership positions in sports and student government perhaps more than a co-ed environment would have.<\/span><\/p>\n I struggled with grammar, but I remember my Advanced French class took me into the world of French art and culture. When I got to the viticulture program in Montpellier and fell in love with grape vines, my French classes at SAS are what really provided an invaluable foundation.<\/span><\/p>\n My time at St. Agnes also gave me the confidence to go into an environment with more men. The University of Pennsylvania was 20% women at the time, Oxford [where she subsequently explored 19th century Anglicanism] had almost no girls, and then I went on to Montepllier. It wasn’t deliberate, but I welcomed going into a male environment.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Thanks to Cunningham and other American hybrid grapes, a centuries-old European winemaking tradition, which relied solely on fine vinifera grapes, had been rescued. But dissension was brewing, especially in France.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAmerican vines were considered peasant vines. The wine was cheaper to produce because the naturally disease-resistant hybrid vines were easier to grow,\u201d explains Lucie. \u201cThey ran afoul of the establishment, whose main concern was saving the fine wine sector.\u201d Overproduction was also a problem. In 1934, the French enacted a formal ban, ordering six American hybrids uprooted. Although Cunningham was not officially on the ban list, it became illegal to sell wine made from it and other American-born grapes.<\/span><\/p>\n Not everyone listened.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_3,2_3″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Pull Quote” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” header_3_font=”|300|||||||” header_3_text_color=”#536574″ header_3_font_size=”28px” custom_margin=”20px||20px||false|false” custom_padding=”20px||20px||false|false” border_width_top=”2px” border_color_top=”#68181a” border_width_bottom=”2px” border_color_bottom=”#68181a” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n ~JON WEHNER, CHATHAM VINEYARDS & WINERY, MACHIPONGO, VA.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Local rebel farmers across France, nonplussed by the order, continued to cultivate them for personal consumption. In the C\u00e9vennes Mountains of central France, for example, they refused to rip out the vines they had so painstakingly planted and nurtured over decades. \u201cThese were true grapes of resistance,\u201d Lucie says.<\/span><\/p>\n Despite their outlaw status, the defiant grapes continued to thrive in Europe. They were short-lived in the United States, however. By 1900, winegrowing in Virginia was moribund, and Cunningham disappeared. \u201cThere was no winegrowing culture to sustain it,\u201d Lucie says. \u201cThat was partly due to Prohibition and partly due to the introduction of tobacco farming. The minute tobacco came along, farmers were drinking whiskey and cider, not wine.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n In 2006, France relented and lifted the ban. The American hybrid grapevines no longer have to be uprooted, but it remains illegal for the wine produced from them to be sold commercially. While rare across much of Europe, Cunningham continues to grow, along with other American grapes, like the popular Isabella. Back in Virginia, the matter of Cunningham’s disappearance lingered in Lucie’s mind.<\/p>\n In 2018, she and her friend, the grape breeder Cliff Ambers, were enjoying a prized bottle of 2017 Coteaux d’Aujac \u201cCuv\u00e9e C\u00e9pages Oubli\u00e9s,\u201d sent to her by St\u00e9phan (members of a \u201cforgotten grape\u201d association are gifted six bottles a year). Pointing to the 1% Cunningham on the label, he encouraged her to track down the vine and bring the lost variety back to Virginia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n A year later, she traveled to France, secured a cutting of the Cunningham rootstock, obtained the necessary USDA paperwork, and returned with it to the United States. That cutting is currently living in a greenhouse at Cornell University, undergoing strict quarantine protocols. Once released\u2014within the next few years, she estimates\u2014one of only two grape varieties native to Virginia will be released, ready to grow and propagate once again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nCOAXING COCA COLA FROM TABLE GRAPES<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
on the island of Pico in the Azores archipelago.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cLucie brought her expertise, knowledge, and enthusiasm to bear in developing our path forward over the last 24 years. Her belief in what we wanted to accomplish and her total commitment to our dream has never wavered. We would not be where we are today without Lucie’s contributions.\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n
THE FLOURISHING\u2014AND VANISHING\u2014CUNNINGHAM GRAPE<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
St. Agnes Beginnings<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
\u201cWhat Lucie is trying to do is so far out in front of everyone else. In her mind, not everything has to be chardonnay, merlot, or cabernet. She is always pushing the envelope for the future, always seeking the truth.\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n
HOMECOMING<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n