SPRINGFIELD, Mo. —
There is a little bit of the Ozarks in every bottle of wine.
And that’s thanks in part to Hermann Jaeger — or, more specifically, thanks to a root-feeding louse that destroyed French grape plants near the end of the 19th century and prompted Jaeger to send his Ozarks-fused grapes to Europe for the winemaking industry’s salvation.
“We could say that we have the descendants of some of his hybrids in Europe today,” said Bethany Walker, an associate professor of history at Missouri State University in Springfield. “He was one important element in saving Europe’s wine industry.”
The life and work of Jaeger, a viticulturist from Neosho during the late 1800s, are the focus of an exhibit opening today at the Discovery Center, 438 E. Saint Louis St. in downtown Springfield. The exhibit, a mix of history and science, features informative science panels on plant diseases and genetics, as well as photos, mementos and historical texts about Missouri viticulture and the Jaeger family.
A free reception, featuring a host of guest speakers, will run from 6 to 9 p.m. today and is open to the public. The full exhibit will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Discovery Center. It will return as a permanent fixture in May.
Jaeger is credited with playing an important role in saving the European wine industry from a detrimental louse infestation by sending over grapevine roots he had created by cross-breeding his grapes with Missouri’s native grape species, said Walker, one of the historians working on the exhibit.
For more on this story, pick up a copy of Friday’s Joplin Globe or register for our E-Edition at joplinglobe.com.
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