The Purpose of Roses in Vineyards

 

“Everywhere in the Champagne the roses come tumbling out of the sides of the vineyards still…None of the celebrated French lover’s passion here, it seems. These roses are nothing more than the winemarker’s canary in the mine shaft, an early signal of impending disease and blight in a vineyard. They are planted because roses get sick with everything and usually before anything else in the garden.”

-The Widow Cliquot, Tilar J. Mazzeo