Phytoplasmas are routinely detected by nucleic acid-based techniques. These approaches rely on enriched phytoplasma DNA extracts of good quality, following labor intensive and time-consuming purification protocols. Here we describe a very rapid, specific, sensitive, and reliable method for flavescence dorée phytoplasma detection, based on real-time Taqman(®) reverse transcription-PCR of the 16S rRNA. The protocol is particularly useful for large-scale screening of vineyards and nurseries, pathogen surveys, and field epidemiological studies.