This may not be news to anyone living in North America, or at least the north-eastern quarter of it, but it is news to me. Apparently the dear little ladybird or lady bug, whose presence we are taught as children to welcome as a sign of incipient wealth, has had a catastrophic effect on the Ontario wine industry. My guide during a whirlwind tour of Ontario's rather beautiful wine country a couple of years ago was Linda Bramble, a wine writer based at Canada's Brock University. She writes:
Do you remember when you were here (26 October 2001) and the...