Raise a toast to an incredible 19th-century Missouri scientist when you pop that bottle of fine French bubbly on New Year’s Eve.

His name is Charles Valentine Riley.

He was an entomologist. He studied bugs. And he saved the Champagne industry.

Riley raced to the aid of shattered European winemakers during an agricultural tragedy that’s gone down in history as the Great French Wine Blight.

Winemaking in France is rooted deep in the soil — and deep in the soul.

The soul of France was torn apart in the 1860s when its vineyards were invaded by a voracious pest called grape phylloxera.

The microscopic aphid feasted on the roots of French grapevines for decades to follow. //

The insect reduced “vast areas of vineyard to what one winegrower described as rows of bare wooden stumps — resembling huge graveyards,” write authors Don and Petie Kladstrup in their 2001 book, “Wine and War.”

Phylloxera caused billions in economic damage, with an immeasurable impact on French culture and national identity. Almost every vineyard in France was invaded by phylloxera by the end of the 19th century. //

He had discovered that grapevines in his state were immune to the ravages of phylloxera. With his leadership, millions of rootstock from the United States — including 10 million from Missouri alone — were shipped to France in the late 1800s.

The native European vines were grafted to the robust, bug-resistant American roots.

The French wine industry slowly rebounded, then battled through two world wars to a full recovery on the strength of American rootstock. //

Americans consume more French wine than any people on the planet but the French. //

Missouri at the time had a robust and internationally renowned wine industry. Its gorgeous wine grapes sprouted from vines that were first planted just a few decades earlier by German immigrants.

Missouri’s celebrated Stone Hill Winery was the third-largest winemaker in the world in the 1870s. It produced about 1.3 million gallons of wine annually at its peak — the equivalent of 6.6 million standard 750-milliliter bottles. //

The desperate French government offered a 300,000-franc award to anyone who could solve the crisis.

The answer lay in Missouri.

Phylloxera was native to the United States — which is why American vines were resistant to their ravages. The pests were unintentionally shipped to Europe in trans-Atlantic trade.

Riley traveled to Europe three times over the next several years to convince scientists and officials of the hope found for the French wine industry in American vines. //

Riley never got the 300,000-franc prize.

But he went on to a distinguished career in international entomology.

He was awarded the Cross of the Legion of Honor by France, its highest honor in service to the nation.

IMAGO DEI, MEANING OF LIFE, WHAT AM I?, WHAT IS HUMAN? //

Jesus was once asked what the greatest commandment in the law was. His response was deeply revealing about the purpose of human existence. He said that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and that we should love our neighbor as ourselves.(7) Notice that the greatest thing a human being can possibly do, and the highest priority a person ought ever to have, is to love God with a love that is not a product of physics, but is supernatural (heart, soul, and mind). He has already demonstrated his love for us in the greatest way possible.(8) But for love to be ‘real’ and meaningful, we must have the ability to accept or reject it. Thus, free will was given to us, despite our proclivity or tendency to badly misuse our freedom of choice.