The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure
April 30, 2001
Both contributors to Wine Spectator,
the Kladstrups—Don, a distinguished journalist and former TV news correspondent, and his wife, Petie, a freelance writer—have unearthed and compiled an array of facts and anecdotes about the significance of French wine—to the French and to their enemies—and the role of French winemakers during WWII. Basing their account on interviews with survivors and other research, the authors focus on the activities of five winemaking families in Burgundy, Alsace, Champagne, Bordeaux and the Loire Valley. When France fell to Hitler, the Reich sent German wine merchants (whom the French referred to as weinführers) to buy as much good French wine as possible and resell it at a large profit. Some Frenchmen, such as Louis Eschenauer (who, after the war, was tried for economic collaboration with the enemy, found guilty and sent to prison), were more than willing to do business with the enemy, but most not only resisted German occupation but also refused to give up their prized vintages to the Germans. For example, though displaced from their château by German soldiers, the Miaihles family made painstaking efforts first to relocate and then to hide some Jewish friends and later helped them escape to Argentina. To get even with the Germans who stole his wine, Jean-Michel Chevreau siphoned wine from barrels that were being shipped to Germany and refilled them with water. Although their book makes for an engaging read, the Kladstrups have organized their material in a rambling manner, which, unfortunately, makes the many names and events discussed easy to confuse. (May 15)Forecast: There will be major review coverage; the authors will make appearances in the San Francisco Bay Area and NPR's
Morning Edition has fallen into line. Yet one wonders whether any but the most dedicated oenophiles will care for a book-length account of how France's wines were saved from the Nazis.