The Winemaker's Wife(108)

But de Vogüé’s story is just the tip of the iceberg. Throughout the region, cellars and crayères were used to hide weapons, downed pilots, and refugees. Information was gleaned from the Germans and passed along to the Allies. At champagne houses including Krug, Piper-Heidsieck, Ruinart, and, of course, Mo?t & Chandon, people spent the war risking their lives for the cause.

The stories of the Chauveaus, the Laurents, and the Thierrys are fictional, but they are based on the reality of countless residents of the Champagne region who had the courage to stand up to injustice at the peril of their own lives. Sprinkled throughout the story are real characters—such as de Vogüé and the weinführer Otto Klaebisch—as well as plenty of historical tidbits and information about the process of making champagne.

Of course, writing a book like this requires lots of research, and I was fortunate to encounter many people along the way who were very generous with their time, knowledge, and resources.

I’d like to express my deepest gratitude to the lovely Virginie Bergeronneau, from Champagne F. Bergeronneau-Marion, a family-run champagne house in Ville-Dommange, where the fictional Maison Chauveau is located. Virginie took the time to answer many questions and host me at her family’s champagne house when I visited Ville-Dommange to research this book. Like many families in the area, hers has been in Champagne since the sixteenth century. Not only did I learn some new things about champagne production, but our visit gave me a better understanding of the deep roots that run through the community.

I also owe a great debt to Isabelle Pierre, the heritage manager for Veuve Clicquot, Krug, and Ruinart. We spent a lovely morning together in a private salon at Ruinart, where she shared many fascinating tales from all three houses. Afterward, I had the privilege of receiving a private tour of Ruinart’s stunning crayères, where Madame Pierre pointed out many things that helped bring the spirit of this book to life. (She even showed me a picture of a Nazi soldier, hand-etched into the chalk walls of one of Ruinart’s crayères, which was likely drawn by a cellar worker hiding beneath the earth during the Occupation.)

Historian Yves Tesson was beyond helpful, and I thoroughly enjoyed our lunch together at Brasserie L’Affaire in Reims. Not only did he introduce me to the magic of a proper café gourmand—espresso served with an array of miniature desserts—but he answered my many questions about the history of Reims and the surrounding area. He was very generous with his time and knowledge, and I’m so grateful.

I’d also like to thank Marie-Charlotte Wambergue, the international press and influence communications manager for Ruinart, and Julie Pertus, the planning and private client coordinator for the champagne brands under the Mo?t Hennessy umbrella (Dom Pérignon, Mo?t & Chandon, Ruinart, Krug, Veuve Clicquot, and Mercier), for helping put me in touch with Madame Pierre, and for helping to organize my visits. Brigitte Batonnet from the Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne (the CIVC) was also tremendously helpful in answering some questions of minute detail in regard to the history and production of champagne. And thanks also to Stéphanie Venet of ParisChampagneTour.com, who leads wonderful walking tours through Reims and helped me with some of my research.

I was unsuccessful in contacting historian Jean-Pierre Husson, who has done extensive research into the history of Reims, but I have to thank him anyhow for some of the wonderful scholarly articles of his that I found online, especially in regard to the Second World War.

The books Champagne: How the World’s Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed Over War and Hard Times and Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France’s Greatest Treasure, both by Don and Petie Kladstrup, were thoroughly enjoyable and informative, as was Alan Tardi’s richly detailed Champagne, Uncorked: The House of Krug and the Timeless Allure of the World’s Most Celebrated Drink. Also helpful were Le Champagne: Une Histoire Franco-Allemande by Claire Desbois-Thibault, Werner Paravicini, and Jean-Pierre Poussou, and Robert-Jean de Vogu?: Le “quart d’heure d’avance” de Mo?t & Chandon by Francine Rivaud and the aforementioned Yves Tesson, both of which I had translated from French. Champagne: The Wine, the Land, and the People by Patrick Forbes, published in 1967, also provided an interesting glance into the recent history of Champagne and champagne production. Fashion Under the Occupation (Dominique Veillon), The Escape Line: How the Ordinary Heroes of Dutch-Paris Resisted the Nazi Occupation of Western Europe (Megan Koreman), and Résistance: Memoirs of Occupied France (Agnès Humbert) helped me fill in some of the details of wartime. The online resources available from the Union des Maisons de Champagne, especially their articles about the time line of champagne production, were also very helpful.

If you’re looking for another novel set in French wine country during the Second World War, I recommend Ann Mah’s The Lost Vintage, about a sommelier who unearths some dramatic history in Burgundy. And if you enjoyed The Winemaker’s Wife, Tilar J. Mazzeo’s nonfiction The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It might interest you, too; it’s also set in Champagne, during an earlier period (the nineteenth century).

Finally, to you, the reader: I hope that the next time you open a bottle of champagne—whether it’s to celebrate a milestone or simply to enjoy on a weeknight—you’ll think of the light and darkness, the tragedy and the triumph, that are part of every glass. After all, those tantalizing bubbles in your champagne represent a tradition of courage, a spirit of hope, and the lesson that if you continue to persevere against the odds, you might just make magic. à votre santé!