A LETHAL fungus is casting a shadow over France’s grape harvest,
spreading its withering arm through some of the country’s most prestigious
vineyards. But experts hope that the identification of the toxin produced by the
fungus will now allow geneticists to engineer vines that resist the
disease.

The fungus, Eutypa armeniacea, causes a disease that shrivels the
leaves and flowers of the vine, preventing grapes from forming. It is resistant
to every known fungicide. Cabernet, Sauvignon, Cinsault and Ugni blanc grapes
have been hit particularly hard. In the Cognac region, almost half the vines are
thought to be infected.

The fungus was first identified in France in 1977, but is also marching
through the vineyards of California. It enters the vine through open wounds such
as those made by pruning. Eventually, the infected wound develops a canker and
the disease spreads through the plant’s plumbing system, its xylem vessels.
Unless the diseased wood is removed, the entire vine will wither and die.

Identifying diseased plants is difficult because the symptoms can disappear
for several years at a time. But Jean-Paul Roustand of the French National
School of Agronomy in Toulouse says he now understands why the symptoms are so
erratic. They only develop when a toxin produced by the fungus rises through the
xylem, Roustand and his colleague Jean Follot will report in a future issue of
the Journal of Plant Physiology. They call the toxin eutypine.

Roustand, funded by Cognac company Martell, is now trying to genetically
engineer a resistant variety of the Ugni blanc vine. Commercial secrecy prevents
from him revealing the details of this research. “We hope to be ready with it in
about two years from now,” he says.

THE LATEST official statistics charting the extent of France’s AIDS
epidemic show that the number of new cases reported since 1994 is still
dropping, although deaths still seem to be rising. The French health ministry
estimates that 2100 people died from AIDS in the first six months of 1996. And
2900 new cases were diagnosed during the same period.

The ministry urges caution in interpreting the figures, at least until a
final assessment is made at the end of the year. “For the moment it would be
wiser to interpret the slight drop as a stabilisation of the situation, which
could prove transient,” says Josianne Pillonel, an epidemiologist with the
ministry.

Of this year’s new cases, an estimated 36 per cent contracted the disease
through homosexual contact and 28 per cent through heterosexual contact, while
25 per cent were drug users. The ministry says that by the end of June this year
there were between 17 000 and 19 000 AIDS patients in France.

Numbers may be falling partly because of improved methods of diagnosis since
1993, meaning many cases were picked up one or two years ago that might
otherwise not have appeared until now. “We’re probably also seeing the results
of a behavioural change dating back to 1986 when the homosexual community became
aware of the risks of AIDS,” says Jean-Louis Virelizier at the Pasteur Institute
in Paris.

Not surprisingly, there are now fewer cases of AIDS among haemophiliacs and
people given blood transfusions. Between 1994 and 1995, there was a 25 per cent
drop in the number of new cases in these groups and a 13 per cent drop among
homosexuals and 5 per cent among drug users. The number of reported new cases
among heterosexuals remained stable.

THOSE who delight in the tense ceremony of opening a bottle of
champagne—all the twiddling of thumbs, the thunderous popping of the cork
and the inevitable soaked carpet—won’t take too kindly to the latest wacky
invention from France.

Champagne producers are retooling their bottling machines to fit a
revolutionary new cork which will turn the traditional “pop” into a “plop”. The
cork looks just like a traditional one, except for a pull-tab on the side. A
quick tug pulls a tiny peg inside the cork upwards, reducing the girth of the
cork in the bottleneck. At the same time, a hole opens up in the base of the
cork’s mushroom-like cap, releasing gas from the neck of the bottle. The
standard metal brace, which keeps the cork in place during the operation, is
then removed and the “deflated” cork can be pulled out easily, and even replaced
to replug an unfinished bottle—should the need ever arise.

“Many of our clients are women and old folk who enjoy champagne but find the
opening of the bottle a daunting experience,” says Philippe Bienvenue, sales
director for Cattier, one of the companies experimenting with the cork.
Cattier’s exports to Britain make up almost a quarter of the 400 000 bottles it
produces each year.

The cork’s inventor, advertising salesman Jacques Pitoux, says he found
inspiration after he and a group of friends sat down to drink a bottle of bubbly
one night. “As soon as the cork popped we lost a quarter of the bottle in froth.
At the current price of champagne, that was several poundsworth gone for
nothing. So I set to and designed a new cork.”

Pitoux says there is a strong safety argument too. Flying champagne corks can
cause serious injury, especially if they fly out prematurely while the wire
brace is being removed. In 1986, British beauty queen Helen Brumby was nearly
blinded when a champagne cork hit her in the eye. The most bizarre incident on
record occurred during a champagne reception at the David Cross Gallery in
Bristol which ended in disaster when a rogue cork smashed through the canvas of
a Victorian oil painting worth ÂŁ7500.

Cattier and fellow champagne producers Leclerc-Briant are still checking how
the corks perform after a long period of storage. But the first bottles with the
new corks are likely to be in the shops by Easter, one of the yearly high spots
for sales of brut.

Many a reveller will be reassured to discover that the cork can still be used
for the traditional shower and popping. “If you want to pop the cork or even
crack the bottle with a sabre you simply don’t pull the tab and it works just
the same as an ordinary cork,” claims Pitoux.