How French winemakers outwitted the Nazis
In the spring of 1945, Nazi Germany has been defeated. The Allied armies are in Bavaria. French and American troops seize Adolf Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest and raise the flag over this fortress. Among them is Bernard de Nonancourt, a 25-year-old officer from Champagne. His mother owns the Laurent-Perrier house. – They make a discovery, the wine cellar, the wine cellar stocked by Goering, who was an avid drinker and a great lover of champagne. There, they indeed find thousands of bottles… – Before him shines a treasure: half a million bottles of the finest wines, from Lafite Rothschild, Mouton Rothschild, Latour, Yquem, to Romaneé-Conti, in one corner, Cognacs and ports, many dating back to the 19th century. The young Nonancourt is awestruck by the hundreds of cases of champagne. He recognizes them; five years earlier, he had witnessed the Germans loading them into their trucks, meticulously looting the wine cellars. This bounty now lies before his eyes. – They will help themselves a little. There was quite a bit of consumption on site, which seems normal to me; it was an unimaginable treasure. – That a man like Hitler, who did not appreciate wine, would stockpile such wonders in a specially dug cave in the mountain, seems incredible to him. These bottles were looted and purchased by the Germans since the beginning of the occupation in France. How did they manage to plunder this treasure? Did the French allow it to happen? In July 1939, the harvest forecasts were excellent. The mild weather promises an excellent vintage. Then, it rains incessantly for six weeks. Temperatures drop, as does the mood of the winemakers. For the second time, they harvest before the transformation of the vineyards into battlefields. In September 1939, Alsace is already at the heart of the French military mobilization. The winemakers are worried about the upcoming harvest. Like everyone else, they are anxious. France declares war on Germany, the Second World War has just begun. In the Haut-Rhin, at the heart of Alsace, in the village of Riquewihr, the Hugel family has been tending the vines for several generations. André was then a young teenager, he recalls his first months of war. – In Riquewihr at first, we welcomed all the people who are evacuated 10 kilometers from the Rhine, which means, with Strasbourg, 400,000 people are evacuated. The government orchestrates an extensive campaign to assist the winemakers. Extensions are granted to the vintners called to serve. Detachments of soldiers hurry through the vineyards. The requisition of draft horses is postponed until the end of the harvest. – The wine of 1939 was brought in with the help of the Limousin hunters. – “Vintage of 1939,under the banner of courage and the determination of our men compelledto prove once again that there are no more indomitable warriorsthan those passionate about freedom and peace,the wine of Alsace, the wine of the frontier will be more than ever resonantlike an anthem and intoxicating like a fervor.” – May 1939 was the most miserable year of the century. If we had the wealth in sugar, currently required, not a single liter produced in Alsace would have the right to be sold as Alsace wine. This shows how dismal it was. – Across France, the 1939 vintage is the worst of the century. Éliane de Lencquesaing Miailhe hails from a prominent Bordeaux winemaking family. The Miailhe family owns several châteaux in the Médoc. Éliane was 13 years old during the Phoney War. – It was said that the more châteaux one had, the poorer one was, because a château meant expenses, expenses, wages to pay, workloads to bear, unpaid, since nothing was being sold, and we shared the poverty of our employees, of our winemakers. We lived the same way, very, very modestly. In 1939, we began by being invaded by refugees, all our cousins, all the people coming from Verdun, from Paris, all the families. – Among these refugees were family friends, Italian Jews, persecuted, they came from Trieste. They were also wine merchants with whom the Miailhe worked, they sought asylum. – We told them, of course: you are welcome, we will help you. Palmer is an estate where we host and organize tastings, but no one stays there, as we have other family properties. We quietly settled them at Palmer, it’s three kilometers from Siran, it’s in Margaux, and we would be delighted to assist you. We never laughed so much, because it was a difficult time to endure, but we were confident of victory. Shortly before the German invasion, Marie-Louise de Nonancourt finalizes the acquisition of the Laurent-Perrier house in Champagne. She has just invested so that her sons, Bernard and Maurice, can launch their own business. – Laurent-Perrier is an old house dating back to 1812, but after the death of Madame, Laurent-Perrier fell into decline and it was going nowhere. This gave Marie-Louise de Nonancourt the idea to buy this house, which no longer amounted to anything. In 1939, it was said, there were 12,000 bottles in the wine cellar under mortgage, sales reduced practically to nothing, seven hectares of vineyard, seven being still the most significant asset. – There isn’t much, but everything must still be done to preserve this small capital. The Germans did not leave a good impression during the last war, where everything was looted and destroyed. Marie-Louise de Nonancourt had part of her cellar bricked up to conceal her stock of 12,000 bottles. – It is even said that she placed in the niche where she stored some of her bottles, a statue of the Virgin Mary that was personal to her. – As in Champagne, everywhere people began to protect their bottles and wine barrels. In Paris, all establishments with wine stocks are preparing for the inevitable. André Terrail, the owner of the most famous among them, the restaurant La Tour d’Argent, is particularly worried. His son, Claude, arrived in Paris on May 12, 1940, just two days after the Germans crossed the Meuse. – My father, Claude Terrail, was at the helm of the establishment, he was quite patriotic and an aviator at Bron, where all the French planes were grounded, bombed by the Germans. He quickly returned to Paris, confided in the head waiter, they went down to the wine cellar, and he took the time to set aside, in the deepest part of the wine cellar, the most prestigious bottles. – His cellar represented the work of a lifetime. It was, in a way, his soul. André Terrail had dedicated years to selecting the wines for this cellar, which held over 100,000 bottles, some of which dated back to the 19th century. Bankers, stars, and aristocrats from around the world would visit his Parisian restaurant to savor the duck with blood sauce and his exceptional wines, like the one from 1867. – It’s true that we managed to preserve, especially the finest bottles. All the magnificent spirits, English coffee, magnums of port, the Return from India, which traveled by ship and returned to France, have remained in our collections. Father used to say he didn’t save France, but he saved its wines. In Beaune, Burgundy, there was fear of looting in the event of a German victory. Maurice Drouhin of the Drouhin house has tens of thousands of bottles in stock, arguably one of the finest cellars among the great Burgundy merchants. His cellar is a true labyrinth of galleries, some of which were carved out in the 13th century. His son, Robert, was then eight years old. – When Germany invaded France, in Beaune and other places, there was a fear of looting. This only happened in the wine cellars that were not occupied by the residents. My father was understandably very worried. He came up with the idea to wall off part of the wine cellars, behind which the most important wines were stored. These included the wines from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. We are at the location where the wine cellar was walled off, right here stood a hastily erected wall in 1940. I remember the construction, because for us, it was a source of amusement, and we were tasked with supposedly disguising it with dust, cobwebs, and so on. This wall remained and served its purpose, even though the Germans did not really venture down into the wine cellars when they arrived in Beaune. – Many households thus wall up their cellars, but in the euphoria following their victory, the Germans do indeed plunder the estates that have not taken precautions, then the occupiers settle in, requisitioning the houses, and then it’s the turn of the vineyards, as in Bordeaux. – Naturally, they are all too happy to occupy all the châteaux. They requisition everything, either for the headquarters or for the troops. At Palmer, the order for requisition and Bourg the next day. – The trouble at Château Palmer is that the good bottles are safe, but not the Jewish friends of the family. – They go up to Palmer, a wall, a brick wall between the château’s kitchen and waste, bringing in as much dust as possible to thoroughly dirty and convincingly prove that it has always been there. Then we hid all our Jewish friends behind this wall. and told the children to remain silent. I was tasked with delivering food daily, from Siran by bicycle, passing by the Germans, who stood guard in front of Palmer, and greeted me with: “Good day, miss.” I replied: “Good day.” In my basket, which I covered with leeks, flowers, or anything else, there was food for these families. And so the months went by. – Meanwhile, the Miailhe family was having false papers made. Time was of the essence to save friends hiding in plain sight with the Germans. – In October, during the grape harvest, we saw father driving one car, my uncle another, departing with all the Jews in the vehicles. the forged papers, the fake advice, fully aware that there would be checkpoints all along the Landes route and the Atlantic zone. I will remember that evening in Siran, watching the headlights disappear into the night, and we said we would never see them again, as they would be stopped at a checkpoint. The papers were particularly well crafted. They made it all the way to Bayonne, and boarded the last ship heading to Argentina. – French wine and champagne are symbols of this swift victory. They become spoils of war and despite the precautions taken in the vineyards, the Germans relish the chaos to loot certain estates. – Hitler consumed little to no alcohol, however, there was a man absolutely essential in the Nazi administrative machine Hermann Goering, who was indeed truly obsessed with Bordeaux wines, particularly those from the Médoc region, and even more specifically with Mouton Rothschild. He developed this obsession to have these great Bordeaux wines in his cellar, regardless of whether it involved outright looting. – There was looting that is difficult to quantify, but a number of prestigious châteaux owned by Jewish families became targets of German plunder. – The Germans also targeted prestigious properties in the Médoc. Two châteaux caught their attention: Langoa and Léoville-Barton, both first growths. Ronald Barton, the owner, left France for Great Britain as soon as the news of the armistice broke. – My great-uncle wanted to join the Free French and took the last ship that left Bordeaux for London. He became a liaison officer for the Free French. Ronald Barton had barely reached England when the Germans seized the properties of this Anglo-Irish family that had been present in Bordeaux since the 17th century. – To begin with, it seems to me that the SS had arrived at the château. They had taken some possession, drinking the wine, etc. There was a brief moment when there was no one in the château, because the SS had left, and the regular army was expected to arrive. The regular army was led by a commander who was, it is believed, involved in the wine trade in Germany, and he said that here, they make good wine, So, we lock everything up. All the work of walling off part of the wine cellar and burying another part of the wines in the pigsty was ultimately not very useful. This commander who arrived was told that, in any case, it was an Irish property, that they were neutral, and he had no right to do anything. – As it is difficult for the Germans to know precisely if this family is truly 100% Irish, the maneuver bears fruit. The two châteaux are requisitioned by the army, the confiscation of the wine is canceled, and the bottles are saved. In occupied Paris, The German authorities demanded the reopening of major establishments to savor the finest French wines. At La Tour d’Argent, the bottles were well hidden. In the absence of looting, these new authorities desired fine wines to always be available at the restaurant. – My father, like everyone in France, was waiting and had decided to close La Tour, jokingly saying he would never reopen it. This situation was, unacceptable. The Germans told him, as they did all major hotels: “Mr. Terrail, there is no need to worry. If you do not wish to open the restaurant, Berlin will send a team.” My father, quite wisely, like others in France during those turbulent times, reopened the restaurant. – Certain establishments captured their imagination: The Tour d’Argent, the Meurice, the San Régis, Maxim’s. These were the establishments, and for them, suddenly, it all belonged to them. The Germans felt at home. Yes, the Tour d’Argent was part of this circuit, I suppose, that they dreamed of. – The capital becomes the playground for all the pleasures of the strong men of the new Europe. The Paris of all fantasies becomes accessible, it becomes the city of leave for those returning from the fronts. They spend their pay without restraint, on wine and champagne, women and restaurants. The Tour d’Argent, led by Claude Terrail, hosts the most important among them. He takes advantage of this proximity to gather intelligence with the French secret services in London. – Every German officer has visited the Tour d’Argent at some point. My father had told me that he had gone with Goering, who had invited him to visit Normandy, and my father could not refuse, which allowed him to see many things that, in my opinion, the Germans had not planned or would have preferred he did not see. – Thus, Claude Terrail attends, alongside Goering, the fortification works of the French coastline by the German army. In the occupied vineyards, the German authorities found a way to control their troops, who plundered not only the French but also the requisitioned goods intended for the Reich. Now, the formalities will be respected. – Wine was a product specifically targeted by the Germans, targeted for many reasons, primarily for the civilians, to supply the Germans during the war and to place the burden of the war effort mainly on the occupied countries, and also to supply and provision the German troops. It is a product designated by the Germans at the start of the war as strategic. – Hermann Goering began by brutally devaluing the franc. The price of the Mark was tripled compared to pre-war rates. The Germans could pay. In Alsace, which was completely annexed to the Reich, everyone rushed for French products, particularly the wine from this region. – They were able to buy everything they wanted, as the stores were full. Everything was available, we lacked nothing. Wine flowed freely, wine cost them almost nothing, schnapps was the same, cognac, etc., they could buy it, which means there were quite a few problems with alcoholism because in Germany, wine was much rarer and more expensive than here. – Most French people believe that the armistice signed by Marshal Pétain is the solution. Wine producers and merchants are enthusiastic. They know Pétain owns a small vineyard on the Côte d’Azur. They ally with the hero who had written, during the First World War, odes to the national drink. Among Pétain’s listeners is the family of Éliane Miailhe. – It wasn’t him who lost the war, and we, there was admiration for his dedication to taking on ambiguous responsibilities in such a situation. Our French families were deeply divided, between those who, very quickly, said it was untenable to follow the Marshal and others who proclaimed: Work, Family, Fatherland. We agreed, for if we lost the war, it was because our country had not worked. We were paying for France’s weakness, a lack of vision, a lack of realism, the Popular Front of 1936, and we were very harsh about having lost the war under these conditions. There was a sense of having been poorly governed. When the Marshal arrived, “Finally, someone of quality,” they said. “Long live the Marshal, long live France, long live…” Robert-Jean de Voguë is a Champagne aristocrat. He is the shareholder and leader of Moët et Chandon. His son Ghislain recalls the family’s enthusiasm for the Marshal. “It gave the country a backbone again, with values traditionally accepted by the people: Work, Family, Fatherland.” A new form of economic warfare begins over wine and champagne. Marshal Pétain believes that by collaborating honestly with the Germans, he will achieve a peaceful occupation. He is gravely mistaken. The Nazis’ greed particularly targets all wine stocks. They represent financial value, but also the sophistication and strength of the country. The demarcation line’s path placed most of the finest vineyards in the occupied zone. – The demarcation line’s path took time to be established. The presence of the Bordeaux vineyards, as well as the Landes forest, was clearly part of the discussions, and if it was included in the occupied zone, it was a deliberate act on the part of the occupiers. There were truly absurd situations where farms or wine estates could see their fields, their vineyards, arbitrarily split in two. – Beaune and a large part of the finest Burgundy vineyards thus found themselves in the German zone. With these great wines sheltered, Maurice Drouhin, along with other winegrowers, set up an escape network. They leverage their knowledge of the vineyard to help move people into the free zone. the first escaped prisoners from the German camps. – In the evening, for dinner, we would usually see men arriving. I had never heard of them before, they would say: “It’s the cousin, you don’t know him, he’s come to visit us, he’s here to have dinner with us.” In reality, I found out later, he was just a prisoner of war trying to escape, Beaune is only a few kilometers from the demarcation line which was abolished in 1942. It is evident that Maurice Drouhin was part of the network seeking to assist these prisoners of war. – In this area, the Germans know there is a treasure sleeping in the wine cellars of French wine and champagne. – The German authorities arrive in Champagne. This arrival is indeed premeditated. It is to seize the stock of champagne bottles. The German authorities state it clearly, for them, it is a war prize. At the time, this stock amounts to around 140 million bottles, which is enormous. The production of Champagne wine requires aging in bottles, in cellars. When selling a bottle, three or four must be kept in stock. – Michel Tribaut is the manager of the Lanson house, one of the most significant in Champagne. His son, Jean, who is ten years old at the start of the occupation, recalls his first encounter with the German army. – The Germans arrived there immediately after the invasion of Champagne. They would go to places like Pol Roger, Lanson, Moët, and then load trucks with champagne. They didn’t ask for anything; they paid with their own money, even though it wasn’t worth much, but they paid. – The German regime quickly understood the prestige and profitability it could derive from the stock of Champagne bottles. It was necessary to purchase the finest vintages, but to identify the best, the command wanted those who knew wine, as well as the producers. The Reich’s economists turned to German merchants, creating a group nicknamed “The Wine Merchants in Uniform.” The French gave them another name, the wine Führers. Their job was to buy as many fine wines as possible to ship them to Germany, to be quickly resold. on the international market with a substantial profit, contributing to finance the Reich’s military campaigns. They also purchase the lesser quality ones, which are distributed to the troops. For Champagne, it is Otto Klebbich who becomes the Führer of this vineyard. – Otto Klebbich is a former agent of a major Champagne house who possesses a very precise knowledge of Champagne stocks and the workings of the Champagne profession. He is someone who would be difficult to deceive. – Klebbich was a German merchant who had interests in a business dealing with sekt, German sparkling wine. His appointment as wine führer in Champagne was not an innocent move by the Germans. Klebbich knew the trade. – He was very Francophile, that I can assure you. He was a man, I would say, intelligent, very well-mannered. – The people of Champagne are allayed by the arrival of the German official. in charge of the Reich’s supplies. Otto Klebbich, despite being very close to the Nazi regime, was born in France. At that time, Champagne was divided into a multitude of producers, so it was necessary to unite to resist the German demands. – It was essential to intervene between the people of Champagne and the German authorities. A spokesperson was needed, and one was appointed very quickly in September 1940 by a letter from the Vichy government which designated Robert-Jean de Vogüé as the liaison with the German authorities. – Upon his arrival, Otto Klebbich found himself caught in a bind. The 1940 harvest is a disaster. Under pressure from Berlin, which demands increasingly larger shares of the Champagne houses’ stocks. The Germans’ demands are becoming more and more pressing. Some weeks, Otto Klebbich demands the dispatch of half a million bottles. Economic resistance is being organized. Robert-Jean de Vogüé, the director of Moët & Chandon, responds. On April 13, 1941, he invites all producers to unite against the occupier. A law requested by the people of Champagne is finally enacted by Pétain. It establishes the Interprofessional Committee of Champagne Wine, the CIVC. This is the first act of massive resistance by Champagne to the German demands, and Otto Klebbich views this initiative with a very unfavorable eye. – The CIVC sought to negotiate the amount of the levies, the volume of these levies, and distribute these levies among all operators, so that the Germans would not decide on their own where they would collect, and then, it was also about negotiating a price, and a price, if possible, that was as close as possible to the production costs, resulting in extremely difficult and very tense relations. – A skilled negotiator, Robert-Jean de Vogüé met weekly with his German partners for high-stakes meetings. – His role was quite challenging, as he had to satisfy Klebbich and also get his colleagues to accept part of what Klebbich wanted, as he always wanted more. and my father always tried to give less. The people of Champagne will do everything to reduce these requisitions. Sometimes, they also resort to cunning. They have stocks of poor-quality champagne that they attempt to sell to the Germans. – It is quite evident that the people of Champagne partially supplied bottles that were not necessarily of the best quality, but Otto Klebbich, who was a discerning taster, would taste the bottles and sometimes refuse them, with great force and violence, the bottles that were offered to him as part of these requisitions. – Jean Tribaut is a witness to this form of resistance that all the producers implement in the region. – We had bottles of mixed content, imperial boxes, same label, Marked in red, reserved side, she had comments. The good grapes were reserved for France, their usual client, then the last juices, they added sugary water to make it foam. It was sold with labels. Everyone was bustling to give them nightingales. They were happy, it popped, it foamed, it was sugary water that foamed. – The Bordeaux wines produced in the world’s largest vineyard are also strategic for the Germans. The Bordeaux producers and merchants are well aware of this. The appointment of the future wine Führer will have a significant impact on their economy. – This occupation is perceived in a peculiar way by the wine actors, because Germany, a crucial point, was in the Bordeaux wine trade. They were somewhat unsure, about how to proceed. Were they dealing with Bordeaux wine clients? Were they dealing with the occupier? In my view, the occupier was shrewd in this regard, as they played on the commercial continuity with Bordeaux wines, by exploiting the disruption imposed by the occupation and the signing of the armistice regime. – Purchases made in the Bordeaux region were entrusted by the Reich administration to a man, his name was Heinz Bömers. He managed a major wine import company in Germany. Bömers was one of the foremost specialists of this vineyard and undoubtedly the largest client of Bordeaux wines in Europe. – He supervised and oversaw a network of about ten German buyers stationed in major vineyards, especially those of high quality. The situation is clear; he was summoned as early as May 1940 by the Reich Ministry of Agriculture to serve as the German official in charge. of wine purchases in France, because he had an intimate understanding of the local economic fabric. and he was well-acquainted with Bordeaux wines. – The German authorities are making a misjudgment. The wine führers are not merely wine merchants and experts fluent in French, they are also Francophiles. They are friends with numerous Bordeaux producers and merchants. These friendly relations sometimes date back several generations. In Bordeaux, Heinz Bömers is at home. Before the Great War, his family owned Château Smith Haut Lafitte. During the interwar period, being an importer, He maintained close ties with France. Bömers arrives just after the armistice. For now, his Bordeaux friends are wary of him. He was a close friend and a long-time client of Éliane’s father. – The Germans were major clients before the war. Our markets were in Bremen and Hamburg, in two wine houses called: Segnitz and Bömers. Mr. Bömers and Mr. Segnitz came to see us, as usual, at my father’s office to say: “Edouard, we will resume our relations, and we will purchase our wines properly. I have the orders.” My father, icy, said to him: “Colonel,” he was in a colonel’s uniform, “you are occupiers.” “Our relations will be strictly the ones you impose upon us.” He was somewhat surprised by the icy response from a lifelong friend. My father told him: “If you wish to visit us at home in a private capacity, in civilian attire, we will resume our lifelong friendly relations, but we will not discuss business. In business matters, you represent the German army, and we will conduct business as between occupiers and the occupied.” – The Mr. Segnitz that Éliane refers to is none other than the wine Führer, appointed in Burgundy by the Reich to purchase the wines from this vineyard. Adolf Segnitz, director of the company bearing his name, is Germany’s representative for the renowned Romanée-Conti. Here too, this man arrives on familiar ground. – He was well-acquainted with French wines; in any case, he knew the wines of Burgundy well. He was a man commissioned by the Reich to be the official buyer, but he performed his duties well as an officer, while also, as a man. After all, he bore no hatred towards the French. He perhaps also thought that the war would end, that one day he would resume commercial relations. For all these reasons, he managed his role correctly. He bought wines, and as far as I know, he paid for them. I don’t know if the best wines of Burgundy were offered to him. He was probably not fooled by it. – The first action of the wine führer Segnitz is to summon the producers and merchants to his offices, at the Hôtel de La Poste in Beaune to reassure them and reiterate his friendship. They wanted to show that he was genuinely concerned about their interests, but that after the war, he also hoped to trade with them. – All types of wines interest the Reich’s delegate. In reality, he purchases wines at low prices, everyday wines for the German people and its troops. These include wines from Burgundy and also from outside Burgundy, as the Burgundy merchants are very active in the Rhône Valley, in the south of France, in the unoccupied part of France, including French Algeria, one of the primary suppliers. wine for Germany at that time. Everyday wines, certainly, and then a lot of luxury wines, because these wines are highly sought after. to speculate during periods that are times of uncertainty. All the wine merchants are delighted with his arrival. Segnitz is not just an envoy of the Reich and the chancellery, he is a friend, a confidant at times, for many merchants, and a valuable asset, because Segnitz is the man who can untangle dangerous situations locally. – Maurice Drouhin’s connections with Segnitz will soon prove beneficial to him. In the summer of 1941, he is arrested by the Germans. They suspect him of gathering intelligence for the enemies of the Reich. Maurice Drouhin is a close friend of the American General Douglas MacArthur. who became the leader of the American armed forces in the Pacific. They had fought together during the First World War. – He spent seven months, which is no small feat, in Fresnes prison, near Paris. The first weeks or the initial months, it was the month of October, November, to the extent that he could correspond with his family, with his wife, he was able to give some instructions. For the vineyards, for the harvest that was approaching, he also provided advice on economic plans. During the war period, it was not advisable to significantly expand trade. He did not want to engage with the Germans; it could only be with the French. He had wines of very high quality in his cellar. and he liked to preserve as many as possible. – Despite these letters showing his determination not to surrender his fine wines to the Germans, they find nothing to reproach him for regarding his contacts with MacArthur. The interventions of his family, his lawyers, and the support he receives from Adolf Segnitz allow for his release in the spring of 1942. – Maurice Drouhin, the vice-president of the administrative commission of the Hospices de Beaune, barely out of prison in 1942, receives a letter from the prefect urging the commission strongly to make a gift to Marshal Pétain. They could not do otherwise. – In Burgundy, as in the rest of France, the marshal and his policy of collaboration are adored. He inspires such veneration the Burgundy producers’ union offers him 66 cases of wine, taking care to include some from 1856, the year of his birth. Maurice Drouhin must urgently convene the assembly of the Hospices de Beaune to meet the demands of the French authorities and offer the Hospices’ vineyards to the Marshal. They select a highly coveted plot from a vineyard overlooking Beaune. – We will detach a portion of the Hospices de Beaune, this small terroir behind me, called Les Teurons, and specifically the Cuvée des Dames Hospitalières, and it is this that is offered in May 1942. It becomes the Clos du Maréchal Pétain. There is a sense of pride among the Beaune elite, I would say. For two years, this clos, The grape harvests are conducted by the Hospices de Beaune. It is they who must work on these harvests. Bottles are sent every month to Marshal Pétain. He receives his case of wine at the Hôtel du Parc. – A vineyard offered to Pétain, while German demands for wine continue to rise. The wine shortage is widespread. Wine production continues to plummet. Before the war, the vineyard was already in poor condition. In 1940, the decline was 30%. By 1942, volumes barely reached pre-war levels. The winegrowers can no longer keep up. They lack everything needed to work the vines. – During the war, Burgundy’s production was extremely limited, on one hand, due to technical reasons: a shortage of personnel to properly cultivate, a lack of treatment products to combat diseases, particularly copper sulfate. – To meet German requisitions, the Vichy government launched a vast campaign to recover metals, to produce the sulfate used to protect the vineyards and thus attempt to increase wine production. – Supply the raw materials yourselves to the factories that will produce copper sulfate this winter and lead arsenate. For economic recovery, to ensure France’s supply, sell your non-ferrous metals to the State.” – The lack of copper sulfate and the weather conditions are putting all the small producers at risk. Jean Ghio is a teenager. He recalls the challenges his father, a vineyard worker, faced on the large estates of Meursault, south of Beaune. The few acres of vineyard he owned were no longer enough to make ends meet. – My father, in 1941, did nothing; everything froze. In 1942, it hailed, and we had no money left. We had to borrow, and that’s how we got to know the banks. It worked well; they lent to those who could repay. My father had nothing at all. We couldn’t get sulfur or copper sulfate to treat the vines and the disease. The grapes were somewhat stunted, and in those years, we didn’t produce much either. I helped my father, we made it through, and no one in our family starved. – In the vineyards, producers also faced a severe shortage of labor. Many men were prisoners. Yet, vineyard work required numerous seasonal workers for pruning or harvesting. As a result, women and children were called upon to help. At the Miailhe estate, everyone was mobilized. The vats needed to be filled. – We, the kids, worked a lot, because we worked in the vineyard, since all the men were prisoners or at war. Among the children, the little ones were privileged. They were too young to work the land. All those between seven and ten years old, they had an easy life. All those between ten and seventeen years old had to take on all the responsibilities. We loved it because we did it as a group, and we felt like we were saving France. – In Alsace, the situation is somewhat unique, the region is completely annexed to the Reich. The winemakers derive certain benefits from this. In the Hugel family in Riquewihr, there is no shortage of anything needed to work the vineyard. – It’s quite astonishing, but throughout the entire war, we never ran out of copper sulfate, we always had bottles coming from Germany, because there was no factory in Alsace that produced bottles. – However, the price to pay is terrible. It’s impossible to cheat on the quality of the wine destined for the Germans. The Nazi apparatus constantly monitors the producers. The entire vineyard is under close surveillance. – My father was a company head and before, in our area, there had never been a union, but during the war, we had the Nazi union, DAF: Deutsche Arbeitsfront, which, theoretically, took care of everything. We had a delegate in the company, one of the workers was a delegate of the Nazi union. Throughout the war, we remained silent, we never said what we thought, not even to a neighbor, because that neighbor could, with an unfortunate word, bring you back under the watchful eye of the Gestapo, which was all-encompassing. – The Nazi regime, desperately in need of men in arms for the Russian front, goes even further. It mobilizes different age groups in Alsace. The Hugel family is hit hard. André has two older brothers who leave under the flags. Desertion is impossible, otherwise the families are sent to concentration camps. – My brother Georges, born in 1922, left in October 1941 to complete the six months of service in the Reich Labor Service, that’s how it translates, RAD. This was essentially a military preparation, and my brother joined the Wehrmacht in March, he was supposed to go to Russia. – In the vineyards, producers do everything they can with the resources at hand to achieve high production and meet these German requisitions, for others, the occupation is a boon. The intermediaries between the wine producers and the German buyers are the merchants. They are the ones who benefit from the new wine market organization, monopolized by the German buyers. Among these business professionals, revenues are skyrocketing. – The wine market is a fantastic El Dorado that allows fortunes to grow beyond comparison with the pre-war era. We see adventurers proliferating, creating trading offices from scratch and sometimes becoming, within a few months, genuine operational players in the wine market and amassing truly astonishing fortunes. – During the war, Joseph Romand was an accountant for a major wine merchant in Beaune. – Yes, business was thriving and flourishing. Those who worked with the Germans, I say nothing, but they were working. – In this part of occupied Burgundy, they sniff out opportunities and easy money. Among the merchants of this vineyard, a minority between 15 and 20%, will enrich themselves by making fabulous deals. They are unscrupulous, willing to do anything to sell to the occupiers. – Of course, in Beaune, we know the names of individuals who became wealthy very quickly: André Boisseau, Henri Leroy, Marius Clerget. – A few kilometers from Beaune lies the village of Pommard, known for producing great white wines. It is in this village that the Clerget enterprise is located. – He is a figurehead of a small trading house, on the eve of the war, who, along with his brothers, quickly amassed wealth in a rather spectacular manner, by seeking sales from successive Reich delegates and then from Nazi offices: the Gestapo, the Wehrmacht. He will use sea fennel to try to expand his business and his success grows rapidly. He is a character who quickly falls from grace. in the most extreme political collaborationism, and who parades through the streets of Pommard in a Wehrmacht uniform to assert his authority over his fellow citizens. – A rare testimony, Gilberte Emotte is the daughter of a small-scale producer in Pommard. Her father manages the village cooperative. As a teenager, she witnesses the excesses of collaboration in the Burgundy vineyards. – With Gilles, we knew it, the Germans were at home with him. He was with them like a friend, he was a collaborator. He got whatever he wanted. There were swastikas at every window… I can still see it in my mind. – Very quickly, these merchants emptied all available stocks. To continue making money, they absolutely had to find wine, regardless of its quality. – We have merchants who embark on a quest for colossal volumes of wine outside of Burgundy, further south, heading towards Algeria until 1942, then towards the south of France, as Adolf Segnitz, the Reich’s delegate, is also appointed for the Côtes-du-Rhône and Provence regions. – The merchants take advantage of the chaos of war to devise financial schemes. These allow them to circumvent the blockade and increase their wealth through large-scale tax evasion. – A number of networks intertwine across Europe, even during the harsh years of the war, enabling our merchants to sell, sometimes through neutral countries, sometimes through tax havens. – I think of Monaco, which facilitates the sale of significant quantities of wine abroad, including to belligerent countries opposed to Germany. Monaco is a rather unique territory, both occupied and neutral at the same time. Occupied by Italy, yet still a neutral country, maintaining international relations with the USA and the UK during the war. All major sales are conducted through Monaco, which hosts hundreds of shell companies, that are, in reality, front companies concealing French trading firms. – In the southwest, Bordeaux merchants are also active. They are in direct competition with the Burgundians. Bordeaux wines are also highly sought after. The wine leaders purchase many fine wines for prominent German figures, such as Goering. and astronomical quantities of everyday consumption wines. – There are major merchants who will create shell companies. This is the case with the Eschenauer house, with the Société des Grands Vins Français, which will direct most of its sales to meet Bömers’ demands. – Louis Eschenauer, nicknamed the King of Bordeaux, is a 70-year-old merchant in 1940. He has long been specialized in exporting to Germany. Before the war, he conducted large-scale business with this country. His enterprise is thriving. In Bordeaux, his close ties with the German command allow him to further increase his fortune. – With the occupation, naturally, Louis Eschenauer’s company continued and intensified its trade with Germany. becoming a sort of privileged intermediary, between Bömers, the German merchants, and the French traders. This happened quite naturally and in continuity with what was previously occurring. During the occupation, not content with being a trader, Louis Eschenauer also played a role in the political sphere, as he notably joined the Collaboration group. – As a collaborator, Eschenauer was also an extravagant character who adored luxury. In business, he was equally flamboyant, flaunting his German contacts in occupied Bordeaux. He was notably a cousin of Ernst Kühnemann, the commander of the port of Bordeaux. – To the point that Louis Eschenauer had the folly to stroll around the racetrack, as he owned a racing stable, in Bouscat, with Kühnemann in German uniform. My grandmother would say to him: “Louis, you’re losing your mind, see them at your place if you wish, but don’t flaunt it like this, it will end very badly, it’s ridiculous.” – For the major Bordeaux merchants, trade with the occupier is a goldmine, the overproduction crisis is far behind. In five years, they have emptied the wine cellars and wine stores of the entire region. The opportunity is widespread, including in Alsace, where some merchants have fully understood the benefits to be gained from the new political and geographical situation. – Wine was a speculative product. That is to say, all the small winegrowers made money because they finally found customers, whereas before the war, it was not obvious. – There were major merchants, particularly in Rosheim, where some of these merchants were located, including the largest cellar at the time in terms of storage, 18,000 hectoliters, was the renowned house of the Ruchter brothers. They specialized in importing French red and white wines. They had passes for seven, to travel to the Bordeaux region, a lot of Bordeaux, but also liqueurs, champagne, so these houses also had, through their activities, the ability to move within what was then France and cross this new border of the annexed Reich that concerned Alsace. – In this favorable context for the wine trade, Beaune, the great capital of Burgundy wine, decides to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the hospices with great pomp. The major sales for charitable works have been interrupted since the beginning of the war. The Germans authorize the event. – In 1943, the 500th anniversary of the Hospices de Beaune will be staged, and it was also the political project of the mayor to, both to make his town known. A political project to conceive this 500th anniversary and to do it with great pomp, with splendor and all. – A wonderful atmosphere. It took place in the grand courtyard of the hospices. There was a grand play that took place in the courtyard. I know this because I was among the spectators. It was beautiful, all the German dignitaries were there. Even Cardinal Suhard, who was the Cardinal of Paris, was present. All the dignitaries of Beaune were present; it was truly remarkable. – During the 500th anniversary ceremony and the Hospices wine auction, many Germans were present, however, in the auction room, they were in civilian clothes, not seen in uniform, but at the tastings surrounding the event, they appeared in uniform, making their presence known. – The Hospices sell wine to merchants who eagerly resell it to the occupiers, yet the institution remains above all suspicion. For months, the sisters have been establishing an extensive escape network. – We hid British airmen. We concealed people fleeing, etc., under false identities. Even the sisters staged a mock funeral for a British navigator to facilitate his escape. – Maurice, Robert Drouhin’s father, will also take advantage of this. Since his release from prison, He joined a resistance network, arms cache, logistics. He was eventually betrayed. – Six o’clock in the morning, knock, knock, at the door, it was the Germans: “We have come to fetch Mr. Maurice Drouhin.” “Sorry, he’s not here. He left for Paris last night.” Maurice Drouhin had anticipated this. The house is above the wine cellars. By a staircase, he descended into the wine cellars, where he got dressed. The Germans might have suspected that the wine cellars led to streets and had surrounded the block of houses, encompassing four streets. What they didn’t know was that there was a cellar leading to a fifth street through which Maurice Drouhin managed to escape. He went to seek refuge at the Hospices of Beaune and with the Hospitaller Sisters, arranged for a room to be reserved for him. Certainly, it saved his life. – Across all vineyards, wine producers joined the resistance: refusing to sell wine to the Germans, escape networks, sabotage of wine and champagne. More and more are joining the shadow army. Bernard de Nonancourt, one of the sons of Marie-Louise de Nonancourt, the owner of Laurent-Perrier, leaves Champagne to join General de Gaulle in London. He would eventually capture Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest with General Leclerc. For now, he is attempting to clandestinely leave France. – Bernard de Nonancourt is leaving. He finds himself in Grenoble. He was given the name of a priest who, in turn, told him to see Father Pierre Grouès. He goes to the confessional, where they meet, and he recounts his journey to Father Pierre, who tells him to come see him that evening at the rectory. Father Pierre tells him that he can guide him to the Malleval maquis, in the Vercors, under the pseudonym of Little Louis. There, he will live for a good year, until the maquis is dismantled by the Germans. There will be a severe gunfight, but Bernard had left two days earlier for a mission. – No, far from there, in Épernay, another man joined the resistance: Robert-Jean de Vogüé, the head of Moët & Chandon and director of the CIVC, increasingly opposes the requisitions of the wine führer Klebbich. He is also one of the leaders of a resistance network in Champagne. This network notably gathers intelligence. It provides information on troop movements. To achieve this, Robert-Jean de Vogüé uses the delivery notes of bottles to the army. This also allows him to identify hidden German armament factories in his region. These pieces of information are passed on to the Free French secret service. – It all started with a network called the Éleuthère network that he established. The idea is to form an army ready for combat when the Allies arrive. Unfortunately, they have no weapons, they have nothing, and he will be arrested in 1943. – A member of his network broke under torture and gave up names, and my father never held it against him. He always said that in conditions like those, one cannot know how they would behave. – Robert-Jean de Vogüé is sentenced to death by a Reims court under German orders. They also compel French newspapers to denounce the assistance provided by de Vogüé to the resistance. Propaganda notably highlights the discovery of weapons in crates of Moët & Chandon champagne. The news sends shockwaves throughout the Champagne region. – As everyone knew his significant role, it sounded an alarm in Champagne, with people saying: “We no longer have our interlocutor, so what will the Germans do? They will demand, without us being able to defend ourselves.” – The entire Champagne region rises up. That is to say, Maurice Flon, the CGT delegate, calls for a general strike. – The reprisals are very harsh. The companies associated with the strike movement are each subjected to a fine of 600,000 francs or a 40-day imprisonment for their directors. Most prefer to pay. Robert-Jean de Vogüé saw his sentence commuted to deportation. – He was nevertheless deported under what was known as Nacht und Nebel, which means night and fog. Those who were marked as night and fog were not expected to return. – Moët & Chandon is decapitated. Its executives are imprisoned or deported. Within a few months, the occupying authorities placed Moët & Chandon under German administration. The man appointed to lead it was Otto Klebbich, but this confiscation was short-lived. The French and their allies landed in France starting in June 1944. The Germans stationed in the vineyards hastily packed up and left. In Beaune, just before the liberation, the French friends of wine führer Adolf Segnitz still took the time to thank him. – On September 18, 1944, as the German army was in full retreat and collapse in France, François Bouchard, president of the wine merchants’ union, along with the dignitaries of Beaune, organized a farewell dinner for Adolf Segnitz. It was, in reality, to thank him, for his good collaboration during the war and the favorable opportunities he facilitated with the merchants and traders. – In Burgundy, during their retreat, the Germans continued to fight. In early September, they were near Beaune in the village of Meursault, where the family of Jean Ghio lived. – There was some damage, but in Meursault, the worst was that they entered the grand crus and then crossed them diagonally. all the way into the neighboring country, spanning 50 meters wide. There wasn’t much left; there were piles of wire, broken stakes, and shattered vines. I know someone who was heartbroken, because my father had a premier cru vineyard, and it was precisely through that one they passed. It was devastated, one could say 80% destroyed. Because the grapes were already formed, it was the eve of the harvest, just two more weeks, and then it would be harvest time. – At the same time, other troops were liberating Champagne. In early September, the Americans entered Épernay. One by one, the vineyards were liberated. – We saw an American column racing through the path, and we were astonished. People were tossing the remaining bottles that had remarks on them. They were very happy, not noticing that they were labeled: reserved. They drank champagne, spirits, and brandy. My mother made friezes. They emptied everything, consumed it all. The soldiers carried them to place them back into a large vat, bought it, and then left just like that. There was a Frenchman shouting because I had no more bottles: “I am French.” – Among these soldiers liberating Champagne is Al Ricciuti, a young Franco-American GI from Baltimore. Bilingual and a translator in the army, he was assigned to the second wave of the Normandy landings. He arrived with General Patton’s army at Avenay-Val-D’Or in Champagne in the last days of September. He stationed for a few days in this small village. – They are in the village, I believe they see the young girls, as they speak French, they are, invited to eat, to have a proper meal. They camped a few meters from their house, in a field just next door. After the bivouac, they come to taste a bit of champagne at the local’s home, thus certainly enjoying a small moment of welcome comfort. They meet the three sisters, they were several friends. They corresponded throughout the war. There is indeed a lovely spark at the outset. – The spark is mutual. Paulette Révolte is the eldest of the three sisters in this family. The Révoltes were then only small producers. They are in this prominent place of Pinot Noir in Champagne, just before the war. Al Ricciuti spends only a few days in Champagne, as his unit returns to combat in eastern France. In early December 1944, American troops enter Alsace. At the Hugel estate, in the Riquewihr region, the human toll is severe. – The seven villages around us… Kaysersberg, Ammerschwihr, Bennwihr, Ostheim, were completely destroyed, with a significant number of civilian casualties. – A heavy human toll and a vineyard suffering extensive damage. – The winter of 1944-1945 was very cold, with snowfall, causing shells that landed on the frozen ground to explode immediately. This meant that the shrapnel destroyed the vine stocks. The worst were the Sherman tanks that roamed the vineyard, catching on the wires. who dragged kilometers of barbed wire behind them. We were fortunate to be liberated by the Americans of the 36th Infantry Division from Texas, who freed us on December 5, 1944. – By early January 1945, the whole of Alsace was liberated. In this region, fully annexed to the Reich for four years, liberation had a bitter taste. Several hundred thousand young men, forcibly conscripted, were still missing. – We were, delighted, but there wasn’t, as in the films we see, Leclerc’s troops arriving in Paris, people with flowers, etc., no, we were happy, but at that moment, we were separated from my brother. and all the other Alsatian soldiers who were in the German army. You see, the problem is entirely different in Alsace. – Unlike Alsace, in the southwest, after having emptied Bordeaux of its wine, the Germans withdrew without a fight. The world of wine played a significant role in this peaceful liberation. It was the work of those who were closest to the Germans. – In Aléria, the mayor of Bordeaux was to play an important role in this regard, but also Louis Eschenauer. Louis Eschenauer made contact in mid-August with Ernst Kühnemann, the commander of the port of Bordeaux, to ask him to save the port. – He negotiated personally, exerting all his influence, imploring Kühnemann to act wisely, telling him that it would be pointless otherwise. Causing more casualties will serve no purpose, nor will causing damage. It is better to leave with honor, and everything will go reasonably well. – These family ties with the German commander Ernst Kühnemann of the Bordeaux port allowed for negotiations regarding Hitler’s order, which had commanded the port to be blown up and to fight to the end. Overall, the Germans left almost intact the production facilities of the world’s most prestigious wine estate. Except for the Rothschild estate, which was extensively looted and damaged, at the Miailhe estate, they are reorganizing. – I won’t tell you the state in which we found the châteaux. We had to clean everything up. Since we had no money, we gave it a coat of paint with a roller, and we filled in the holes. And then we restarted the estates as best as we could. – Upon liberation, the purge began in Bordeaux and throughout the Bordeaux vineyards. It was immediate. The resistance fighters targeted symbols, those who benefited the most: politicians and especially wine merchants. The most illustrious among them was Louis Eschenauer, known as the King of Bordeaux. – He was fortunate to be arrested by the FFI and not by the FTP, because all those who were arrested by the FTP faced much harsher treatment and it was much more difficult. He was imprisoned at Fort du Hâ, in the same cell as Marqué and with Father Bergey, and he will be judged by a court presided over by Mr. Lambert de Cesseau, who, incidentally, has become a fierce resistor. after having been a staunch collaborator. With these facts established, he will be heavily sentenced. – The king of Bordeaux is eventually released, like other wine merchants, he is stripped of his civic rights and placed under house arrest. In 1945 and 1946, the economic purge targets illicit profits. The fortunes of major merchants like Louis Eschenauer are significantly reduced. – Nearly 1 billion francs in confiscations, 1.7 billion in fines by the end of 1946. Between 1945 and 1946, it’s nearly 2.7 to 3 billion francs. which were taken from Bordeaux merchants for their transactions with the German occupiers. This purge was kept quiet, and even today, one can easily speak of a failed purge, as the press did not echo it during the period. On the contrary, the press and a number of political parties, notably the communists, were the first to denounce the lack of a purge. – Fines and tax adjustments for Bordeaux merchants, but nothing for the major Burgundian collaborators. At liberation, all obtained or purchased resistance cards. As resistors, they were shielded from reprisals. All also emphasized the vital economic necessity of rebuilding the country during this period of chaos. As a result, after the joy of liberation, a heavy silence descends upon Burgundy. – There were acts of retribution, some sang, blending in unnoticed. Elsewhere, they remain unknown. Some had to leave, it was inevitable. – This naturally raises the issue of illicit profits, which is significant here in Burgundy, particularly in Côte-d’Or, but it is a matter that the justice system quickly dismisses with considerable leniency. – Through the archives, we find some clues about these sums. They speak of hundreds of millions accumulated, gold bars, all invested in apartments, purchases of casinos, and private mansions in Paris. Entire estates have been established abroad for certain wine merchants. All of this is obviously very opaque because it primarily transits through black market channels. – The Beaune hospices are working hard to get back some of their property, which was ceded under pressure to Marshal Pétain during the occupation. – Marshal Pétain’s assets are placed under sequestration, and the vineyard here is seized, like all his properties. The 1944 harvest does take place, but it is returned to the hospices. The challenge is how the hospices will recover this vineyard from the marshal. There is a trial in 1946 that allows for this restitution. It loses the name Clos du Maréchal Pétain and reverts to Cuvée des Dames Hospitalières. and, ultimately, a portion of the wine from the remaining bottles is purchased by a merchant who does not truly reintroduce them to the market until the 1990s, 2000s. – The same sense of incompleteness also prevails in the Champagne vineyards, despite a very real resistance. Some collaborators and profiteers slipped through the net of the purge. The focus is mainly on the symbol. In Reims, justice targets the general manager of Pommery Champagnes. The Marquis Melchior de Polignac is also the honorary president of the Collaboration group. He is sentenced to ten years of national disgrace. – When Pommery came under the Lanson umbrella via my brothers-in-law Gardinier, we discovered in the archives invitations from Marshal Goering, this and that. What do you do? You are at the helm of a household in an occupied country. You were the star, you represented France at the Olympic Games under the Hitler regime, and you show the marshal the door? – The Marquis Melchior de Polignac is ultimately exonerated by post-war French justice. He withdraws from business but remains marked by the stigma of collaboration with the occupier. The marquis provided political information to the Nazi intelligence service. The final target of the purge is the CIVC, the Interprofessional Committee of Champagne Wine, established under the Vichy government. The judges in charge of the purge demand its outright dissolution. It will not happen. Champagne wine experts acknowledge the usefulness of this institution. As in other French vineyards, the general climate is one of appeasement. It is in this very city of Reims that the Second World War officially comes to an end. – At the end of the Second World War, due to Reims’ martyred past, Dwight Eisenhower decided to establish his headquarters in Reims, where he left a very good impression. It is said of him that he rode around on a bicycle, and he had a deep humanity with the population. He lived here for almost six months, and it is because of his presence here, the date of May 7, 1945, is when the armistice of World War II was signed in Reims. – Stalin was furious that this surrender was signed in Reims. – The Russians, who needed a more striking signature, and who had fought hard in Berlin to liberate the city, requested a signature, if I may say, more flamboyant the following day in Berlin. – After the war, work continued in the French vineyards. 1945’s weather is remarkably special. A wave of mildness followed by frost, hail, and finally a heatwave. At first glance, 1945 seemed to be a highly problematic vintage, but the wine producers have been convinced for years that there is a peculiar bond between warfare and wine. By the grace of the Lord, the vintage is poor when war breaks out and always great when the fighting stops. Once again, history proves them right. If 1939 had been one of the worst years of the century, 1945 stands as one of its best. – The year 1945, a remarkable year, marks the year of liberation. The harvest was not very abundant, there weren’t many grapes, but this also contributes to the quality. There was frost, which significantly reduced production in certain areas, especially due to hail. Ultimately, a very great year of very limited production. Few bottles still exist. – The power, the tannin, the ripeness of the grape, the concentration, the complexity, a truly great vintage. Indeed, 1945, 1947, 1949 were three post-war vintages, which were exceptional vintages, yet no one to buy them. It was a vintage that had been awaited since 1929. You could have a quality vintage, but no one to buy it. Our major market, England, was devastated. Belgium, Holland, let’s not even mention them. Germany, let’s not mention it either. The ’45 found no buyers. The market remained stagnant in Bordeaux until the 1960s. – Afterwards, Burgundy gradually regained its momentum, even though it took a good ten years to recover somewhat. I would add that the vineyards that had often been replanted after the phylloxera around 1885, 1900, were very old, and replanting a vineyard costs money, takes time, and the economy was not sufficient. Not enough replanting happened. Only from 1960 did some vineyards get renewed. – In Champagne, 1945 was a great year. but the German raids are clearing out the wine cellars and stockpiles. The occupier left a slate behind. – At the end of the war, the Champagne economy was drained, the houses were on the brink of bankruptcy, the stock, which was 140 million bottles, because the Germans arrived, dropped to about 80 million bottles, but this Champagne economy is still alive and ready to restart, but it will take a lot of time. The approximately 40 million bottles that were sold before the war were only recovered in the 1960s. It took a considerable amount of time to regain the level of activity and shipping that existed before the war. – The war changed things, but it must be said that the great development of champagne occurred after the Second World War, since from 1750 to 1939, we went from zero bottles to 40 million bottles sold. From 1945 to today, from 40 million to 300 million bottles for the entire industry. It was after the Second World War that champagne made its international takeoff across the five continents. – The war mainly purged the markets, markets that were overcrowded, saturated before the conflict and which would obviously reverse significantly. Wine became a rare and expensive product, which it was not before the war. – In a certain way, 1945 marks the last great vintage of the 20th century. In total, the Nazi regime managed to extract nearly 50 million bottles of quality champagne, Burgundy, and Bordeaux from French cellars. and millions of hectoliters of wine for everyday use. The Germans were the occupiers. They established a formidable legal plundering machine, purchasing under threat. Some French individuals became significantly wealthy. Among them, few were punished, but overall, the producers resisted. They retained most of their fine wines. These fine wines enabled them to revive their trade post-war. Eight years later, on July 8, 1962, in the capital of champagne, the French were surprised to see German flags flying alongside the French ones. For the first time since the end of the war, A French President greets a German head of state. – My father, Jean Taittinger, was at the time a young deputy mayor of Reims, and it is he who welcomes Chancellor Adenauer and General de Gaulle to Reims to take them to the cathedral to see Monsignor François Marty, for this sacred reconciliation that General de Gaulle and Chancellor Adenauer wanted. They were both great Christians. they wanted a true mass that lasted a long time, I remember very well, and they placed everything under divine authority. They did not want it to remain at their level, because, in some way, both had experienced the war, they knew what it was like, and it was very fraternal. – The wines evolve slowly and nobly. They carry within them the promise of a long life. Wine is part of our history, it helps define us; it is this symbol, this pride, and this wealth that the Nazis attempted to steal from the French. Robert-Jean de Vogüé survived the concentration camp. Very weakened, he reunited with his family in the spring of 1945. He resumed the reins of Moët & Chandon and the CIVC. Back in the United States, Al Ricciuti could not find peace. He decided to send a letter to Paulette Révolte, whom he had met in Champagne. Their marriage was celebrated in 1963, in Avenay-Val-d’Or. Al Ricciuti became the first American to make champagne. Otto Klebbich, Joseph Segnitz, and Heins Bömers, the three buyers appointed by the Nazi regime, continued to purchase French wines post-war for the German market. In Burgundy, Maurice Drouhin safely left the Hospices de Beaune at the liberation. Just like his son Robert Drouhin, Éliane de Lencquesaing was later inspired by her father, she prioritized quality. She managed estates, including Pichon Longueville, which was on the brink of bankruptcy before she took the reins. This second growth competes with the best, in finesse and depth. André Hugel’s two brothers returned safely to Alsace. They are marked for life by their status as ‘malgré-nous’. Their father, Jean Hugel, also had faith in tradition. He would often repeat his motto to his three sons: “A well-treated wine is an untreated wine.” Today, their wine continues to be sold worldwide.
The Nazis sought to seize France’s finest wines as both trophies and economic fuel. Winemakers responded with ingenious resistance: hiding their bottles, deceiving the Germans with mediocre wine, and joining forces to minimize losses. As a result, despite the pillaging, a large part of France’s viticultural heritage was preserved, which explains why, after 1945, the cellars were not completely emptied.
