Wine and War

Filed in archive French Wines on May 10, 2007

I thought this was interesting. It's a fictional book that talks about World War II, but it also brings in the background of French winemaking. I found a review about it posted at the North Denver News:

The book, Wine and War, written by Don and Petie Kladstrup, published by Broadway Books in 2001, tells this story: As France surrendered, as occupation by the Germans became inevitable, French winemakers hurried to save their vineyards, wineries and their acclaimed wines.

The Kladstrups (he is an Emmy Award-winning correspondent; she is a print journalist) interviewed a number of surviving winegrowers (vignerons in French), and their families to learn how they survived the occupation, how they hid Jewish and other hunted refugees and partisans, and of course, how they hid their wines. Into this mix went traitors as well-vignerons who for their own reasons valued their vineyards above the lives of friends, and sadly, sometimes their own families. These were the people who were willing to betray their country. How the traitors paid with their reputations and lives after the war is also disclosed.

It seems like a wonderful backdrop for a book, and I think it's interesting how the authors researched their topic, mixing fact with fiction. I'm probably going to wait the movie version though.

Book image from Barnes & Noble.