Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure

Even while Europe was busy losing its collective mind in World War II, the French still had their priorities straight: protect the vineyards, hide the grand cru, and make sure no Nazis ever got a decent bottle.

Wine and War is part history lesson, part thriller, and part love letter to the stubborn, grape-stained heart of France. The Kladstrups weave together stories of winemakers who outfoxed the insolent occupiers with a mix of gallows humor, moral conviction, and just enough pettiness to make it fun. It’s the kind of book that makes you want to drink DRC at noon and toast to human defiance while flipping the bird at Adolph and his pathetic band of morons.

What sticks with me, years later, isn’t just the wine — it’s the show more audacity. Imagine risking your life not for gold or politics, but for a cellar full of fermented grape juice because it represents something bigger: identity, pride, culture, home. The Nazis saw it as plunder; the French saw it as proof they were still human.

If you love history, or wine, or tales of people doing absurdly brave things for the sake of something beautiful and ephemeral — this is the perfect book. Decant it slowly, let it breathe, and raise a glass to those who fought fascism one hidden barrel at a time. show less

Both delightful and horrific. Delightful in that the Kladstrup's provide insight into the making of French wine, its historical significance, traditions as well as the identity which it ingrains in each Frenchman and woman. Horrific in that the book covers the affects of the wine industry brought about by Hitler's invasion and the Nazi's wanton attempts to steal, corrupt and destroy France's wine industry.
Through love of country and the beverage itself devoted winemakers found ingenious ways to conceal wine and save the vineyards from complete destruction.....even if it meant with their own lives.
I liken this book to a liquid version of Monument Men and a must read for lovers of the grape.

This is the epitome of a modern, awesome history book: it takes on an unusual angle, the role of wine and winemakers in World War II, and tells a tale of resistance and endurance in an engaging, enlightening manner. Wine is France. The Germans knew it. Claiming French wine was part of the overall subjugation and brutalization of the French people.

I was awed at the ways that winemakers fought back, from smuggling people in wine barrels (no easy lid removals, either--barrels had to be completely deconstructed), to hiding Jewish friends and downed American pilots in rooms next door to German soldiers, to trying to engineer copper sulfate for wine production with Germans all around--and dogfights overhead. Wow. This book is a fast, easy show more read, but one with a lot of depth. show less

Continuing my reading regarding World War II, I selected this book because I am an oenophile - a wine lover! I was extremely interested in finding out how the French vineyards/winemakers managed during World War II and was amazed at how much I learned.

Before the war started the 1930's saw cutbacks in shipments to the US due to Prohibition, but the winemakers and Americans manage to get around that by shipping win in crystal perfume bottles. Other tactics were also used so in ways preparing the Winemakers for the Nazi occupation. After the occupation after the men were sent off the German Army, limitations for those left behind included only German newsreels at the cinema, no American films, and
listening to American jazz was not show more allowed. The French food was rationed by calorie rationing 1200 per day for adults and 850 for the elderly but the restriction of no wine was the most painful for the French. Actions of subtle defiance - spilling drinks on the Germans, bad directions for German tourists, red, white and blue "accidental" displays as in clothing kept the French spirits up. The French Resistance helped to hide 100s of thousands of bottles of excellent wine while winemakers sent the poorer vintages to the German hierarchy. To prevent good wines leaving the area, Resistance would derail trains and hijack shipments. Resistance Leaders at times were even smuggled out of Occupied areas in wine barrels.

But the winemakers had other problems - their plow horses were taken for the army so that cows had to be used, chemicals/fertilizers were unable to be obtained and yet the German still required large numbers of bottles of wine to be sent to Germany each month. There were even weinfurhers who were responsible to canvas each of the major wine regions - Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne - for the best wines.

But French Army finally was able to join the fight after D-day. During the Champagne Campaign, the French troops advanced up the western side of the Rhone where the best vineyards were planted while the Americans went up the other side where the lesser wines were made. Frequently the French troops slowed down so as to prevent battles taking place in the vineyards.

The great vineyards frequently said that from 1939 to 1945 paltry wines were made but when the war ended in 1945, there was a tremendous harvest.

I was happy to read that the vast majority of the vineyards were able to survive.

This was a very well-written book with interviews from family members whose vineyards were part of the battle for French wine.

One bad note - there was a part where an American soldier from Baltimore was described as a avid Oriole fan. Sorry, the Orioles did not come to Baltimore until 1954. I know because it is my hometown team!

This would be a great book for any oenophile! show less

The Occupation of France by the Nazis was a dark period. France, on its knees, was looted mercilessly, and there was barely one sector which escaped the robbing and greedy hands of the conquerors. So it was, then, for one of its most valuable, national and cultural pride, 'symbol of prestige, sophistication and power': its wines.

Under the Vichy regime it's indeed several hundreds of millions of bottles which were shipped to Germany! More than half a million alone were, for example, recovered in Hitler's 'eagle nest' in Berchtesgaden, a loot so incredible it's quite difficult to grasp its magnitude. The rapacity of the Nazis was in fact such, that, it even led to a penury of wines in 1941 (in France!!).

From the four corners of France's show more wine producing regions to a POW's camp in Silesia, from the dirty tricks and scams to fool the occupying Germans to the 'Clos du Maréchal Pétain' creating havoc during the Hospice de Beaunes Wine Auction, and, of course, the controversial policies implemented by the 'weinfuhrer' and the Hitler Youth doing a favour to Alsace (getting it rid of its hybrid grape varieties...) Don and Petie Kladstrup offer here little stories wrapped into History itself. They, above all, give us to see through such surprising tales (reflecting greed as much as heroism) what such a period must have been for the French wine world.

The book is not devoid of weakness. The writing style is frivolous, and, it mostly relies on anecdotes based on the testimonies of survivors those memory seem to be, well, quite shaky. Nevertheless, beyond its historical interest here is a beautiful and lively tribute paid to the wine world and those that make such a world possible in the first place-winemakers themselves. It's cleverly entertaining! show less

Great historical look at the French, their wine, and the Germans who confiscated it during WWII. The French winemakers who were part of the Resistance, used many methods to hide their wine from the Germans or taint the wine to make it unpalatable. I was aware of this part of history before I read this book, but this book really brings it to life. I loved the scenery the book evoked in my mind. There are some great photos at the start of all the chapters that I found fascinating as well. I went to France this fall and saw some of these caves and vineyards and having read this book made the trip more interesting. This in nonfiction that I feel reads like a great fiction story.

An enjoyable read but I think the same story could have been told in a long-format magazine article(does such a thing exist anymore?). It was certainly a part of WWII history that I knew nothing about but at times the importance of wine seemed overstated, a bit of the 'my topic is everything' syndrome that can happen in history nonfiction. Still, I was worried about it being an unconnected series of stories but it was not, it held together well and I enojyed the read.