This material is prepared based on the original historical research from the section "Histoire de l'ampélographie" ("History of Ampelography") authored by Ch. Tallavignes, published in the first volume of the classic "Ampélographie" edited by P. Viala and V. Vermorel (Macon, 1901–1910).

The Emergence of Ampelography as an Independent Science

The publication of Duhamel du Monceau's "Treatise on Fruit Trees" in 1768 exerted a monumental influence on the advancement of grape study. This milestone can be considered the dawn of a new, highly productive era. In itself, Duhamel’s treatise described a mere fourteen grape varieties grown in orchard enclosures; however, these descriptions possessed an entirely new, genuinely modern anatomical structure. The author recorded the length of the petiole, the shape of the teeth, the depth of the sinuses in the leaf blade of the vine, the form of the berries, and even the marbled design on the seeds with extreme precision.

The significance of Duhamel du Monceau's work is measured primarily by the intense impetus it delivered to the scientific community of France. At this same time, through the ideas of the economist Quesnay, who learned to read from Liébault's old books, and the influence of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, nature and agriculture became an absolute fashion. A major and fruitful return of enlightened society to the land, which had been despised by intellectuals for too long, commenced. It was from this powerful movement that ampelography was born, separating into a specialized science. The chief engine of this new era was a close friend of Duhamel du Monceau and Rousseau — the celebrated Abbé François Rozier.

The Manifesto of Abbé Rozier: The Plan for a Live Vine Collection

In 1770, Abbé Rozier presented his foundational research "Memoir on the Best Method of Making and Managing the Wines of Provence" to the Academy of Marseille. It was in this study that he formulated the primary ampelographic manifesto of the era, pointing out that the endless confusion in local grape variety naming rendered any viticultural books useless, since vignerons from neighboring villages completely misunderstood one another's language. Rozier proclaimed a revolutionary plan destined to completely and permanently eradicate this chaos in grape variety naming.

The essence of his program was to gather vine cuttings from all corners of the French kingdom on a single plot, plant them under identical conditions, and conduct a painstaking, multi-year study. The Abbé outlined a strict six-year plan for grape research:

  • First Year (1781): Sowing of cuttings and establishment of the vine on the plot; no observations are recorded.
  • Second and Third Years (1782–1783): Application of three different pruning methods on various soil types. Recording precise dates for the start of sap flow ("bleeding"), bud burst, flowering of the vine, and drafting a strict botanical description of the grape leaf structure.
  • Fourth and Fifth Years (1784–1785): Repetition of observations on the formed wood. An attempt to learn to unerringly distinguish grape varieties solely by the structure of shoots and the form of leaves. Determination of botanical characteristics of the vine flower and berry ripening.
  • Sixth Year (1786): Final establishment of uniform names for grape varieties throughout France, compiling a strict Latin registry, and matching it with all provincial synonyms.

Following the completion of this stage, Rozier planned to completely uproot the mixed plantings and plant each grape variety separately on three distinct soil types (stony, gravelly, and vegetated) to experimentally demonstrate how terroir influences wine quality, crop volumes, and the alcohol yield of resulting distillates.

The Bishop's Tyranny and the Destruction of the First Vine Collection

Executing this grand ampelographic plan proved to be incredibly difficult. The French government and ministers were reluctant to assist the scientist, endlessly redirecting his petitions from one bureaucrat to another. Seeking a location where absolutely all grape varieties of France would be guaranteed to ripen, Rozier used personal funds in 1779 to purchase the estate of Beau-Séjour ("Beautiful Stay") at the gates of the city of Béziers in the south of the country.

The Abbé resolutely set to work, but the local life of Béziers met him with hostility. Rozier's intellectual mind, formed by long years of living in Lyon and Paris, contrasted sharply with the provincial selfishness of the local community. But fatal for the world's first ampelographic collection was its proximity to the estates of the Bishop of Béziers — Monsieur de Nicolaï. This high-ranking spiritual prelate, distinguished by a highly gallant disposition, maintained a secret and fashionable 18th-century secluded retreat ("little house") for amorous pleasures, located directly beyond the border of Rozier's property.

To avoid making a long and tedious detour during his frequent and impatient visits to his lady of heart, Bishop Nicolaï engaged in an unprecedented lawlessness. One day, Abbé Rozier discovered that his Beau-Séjour property had been invaded without any warning by laborers hired by the prelate, who began to savagely clear a direct path straight through the unique vine plantings, ruthlessly destroying precious collection grapevines. Rozier flew into a rage, launched a loud lawsuit, and won the case legally. However, it was a fatal victory of the earthenware pot against the iron pot. The vindictive Bishop Nicolaï mobilized all his connections at court and ensured that the Abbé was stripped of his lucrative church benefice. Ruined and deeply insulted, Rozier was forced to hastily sell Beau-Séjour and leave the inhospitable Béziers forever, returning to Lyon. He had neither strength nor funds left to re-establish the destroyed collection of French grape varieties.

Nationwide Survey of Grape Varieties: The Campaign of Dupré de Saint-Maur

Despite the devastating failure in the south of the country, the enthusiasm of Abbé Rozier ignited his loyal like-minded peers. The idea of conquering chaos in grape variety naming was embraced by his close friends — Dupré de Saint-Maur, the Intendant of Aquitaine since 1776, and the prominent Bordeaux academician François de Paula Latapie. They conceived the plan to realize Rozier's grand vision in a much more secure location — in Bordeaux, where the climatic conditions and soil quality were ideal for most French vines. To overcome financial and bureaucratic obstacles, Dupré de Saint-Maur deployed all his immense administrative authority as an Intendant of the kingdom.

On April 29, 1782, Dupré de Saint-Maur dispatched official circular letters to all his fellow Intendants of French provinces. In this state document, he urged to permanently end the confusion in vine names: "If it belongs to any people to draft a true history of the grape, it is surely the French, for whom the exchange of wines yields the greatest capital. No jealousy of foreign powers will ever strip us of the soil and climate that impart unique properties to our wines. Permit me to ask you to direct trusted individuals to collect over the coming winter two rooted plants or cuttings of each grape variety cultivated in your lands. Each shipment must carry an etiquette with the local vine name and be tied to a detailed memorandum describing the coloration, size, indentation of leaves, and the density and form of clusters."

The Scope of the Bordeaux Variety Collection: Cuttings, rooted plants, and scientific memorandums flooded into Bordeaux in a full stream throughout 1783 and 1784. Dupré de Saint-Maur personally and strictly monitored this ampelographic process, delivering sharp rebukes to negligent officials (such as the Paris sub-delegate Aubert, who due to confusion sent dry cuttings without numbers). For the establishment of the first state ampelographic collection, a massive plot of land enclosed by a stone wall was allocated, situated between the Aquitaine gate and the Capuchin gate in Bordeaux. The accumulated mass of letters, surveys, and grape variety lists from all the Intendancies of France formed an unprecedented archive in the history of science, recording the vernacular nomenclature of more than 2,000 vine names alongside all their regional synonyms.

Political Crisis and the Destruction of the Bordeaux Vine Collection

To great regret, the grand Bordeaux collection of grape varieties suffered a tragic fate identical to that of Abbé Rozier's vineyard. Contrary to the established view in popular literature, it was not destroyed by the storms of the Great French Revolution. The vine collection was condemned to ruin significantly earlier — due to typical bureaucratic arbitrariness and envy. In 1786, Dupré de Saint-Maur vacated his post as Intendant of Aquitaine. Upon leaving, he transferred full scientific management of the ampelographic plot to Academician Latapie, whose passion for viticulture fully matched his own.

However, the new Intendant of Bordeaux — Camus de Néville — viewed ampelography with complete indifference. Furthermore, out of petty administrative vanity, he began systematically persecuting and dismissing all officials who had demonstrated loyalty to his predecessor. Latapie was immediately removed from managing the plot. Left without qualified scientific oversight during the critical period of cutting establishment, the unique vineyard rapidly fell into decline and neglect. By the start of the revolution, the collection of French grape varieties between the Aquitaine and Capuchin gates was a weed-grown wasteland. Later, in Thermidor of Year V of the Republic (1797), Academician Capelle presented an official report to the Bordeaux Academy on the destruction of the vine collection, after which the land of the unique nursery was sold to private individuals for development.

The Status of French Science by 1800: The Tragedy of Dussieux

The 18th century concluded for French grape science with a profound internal split. The culmination of this era was to be the critical article in the multi-volume "Complete Course on Applied Agriculture," published from 1783 to 1800 under Rozier's editorship. The Abbé himself, tragically killed in 1793 during the bombardment of Lyon, did not survive to complete this section. The drafting of the central chapter on the grapevine was assigned to the scholar Dussieux, who drew upon materials by Legrand d'Aussy, Thomassin, and Jumilhac. The appointment of Dussieux was a true betrayal of Rozier's memory, as his ampelographic views were entirely opposite to the convictions of the collection's founder.

Dussieux openly declared on the pages of the encyclopedia that grape varieties are unstable and chaotically degenerate on their own under the influence of cultivation or climate. Relying on an accidental observation by Jumilhac, who claimed that before his eyes a vine of the Meunier variety supposedly transformed into the Morillon variety, Dussieux proclaimed: "Grape varieties agriculturally degenerate into new strains under the influence of changing soils. It is futile to attempt to establish a uniform system of synonyms for all of France based merely on the study of one or two collected collections." This false and unscientific conclusion by Dussieux halted the development of theoretical ampelography in France for several decades, returning it to the old errors of antiquity.

Nevertheless, the colossal survey archive of Dupré de Saint-Maur and Latapie, preserved in the departments of Bordeaux, Dijon, Paris, and Montpellier, endured. In its factual value, abundance of precise local grape variety names (such as Pinot noir, Pinot blanc, Verrot, Folle, Balzac, Chardenet, Noirien), this rescued collection of late 18th-century documents surpassed most subsequent scientific works in Europe, establishing a firm foundation for the coming golden age of ampelography.