Vineyard of The Sea

Vineyard of The Sea

This picture was taken at San Remo beach. It was during a low tide and all there were sea weeds exposed. This plant looks like a grape but with a textured skin looking like a chicken skin. The ground was very soft at that time and I had actually wet my whole shoe when I accidentally step on a pool of water covered by seaweeds.

During the instability of the Middle Ages the monasteries maintained viticulture. They had the resources, security, stability and interest in improving the quality of their vines over time. The monks also had the education and time necessary to enhance their viticulture skills. Throughout the Middle Ages, the best vineyards were owned and tended by the monasteries, and vinum theologium was considered superior to all others.

The vineyards of Europe were planted with various varieties of the Vitis vinifera grape. In the late 19th century the entire species was nearly destroyed by the plant louse called phylloxera that was accidentally introduced to Europe from North America. Native American grapevines include varieties such as Vitis labrusca, which is resistant to the bug, but produce wines with a foxy, animal type taste. Vitis vinifera varieties were saved by being grafted onto rootstocks of native American varieties. However, there is still no remedy for phylloxera, which remains a continuing threat to vineyards around much of the world that are not planted with grafted rootstock. The oldest vineyard in the world is over 400 years old vineyard located in Maribor, Slovenia. Its age was measured with the microscope. In 2004 it was entered as the oldest vineyard into Guiness book of records ^[1].

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)