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Wine and War - The French, The Nazi s, and France's Greatest Treasure, written by the husband and wife team of Don and Petie Kladstrup tells the remarkable untold story of the influence of wine on France and the French during World War II.

The book features the stories of famous vignerons from five different regions of France, and the trials they had to endure to survive the conflict. Four years of research and many hours of interviews with the families has resulted in a book that is not mere historical analysis but a more personal account of the lengths many French went through to protect both their wines and their way of life.

The tales told include that of the Hugel family from Alsace - one of the first regions of France to be annexed to Germany. Of the de Nonancourt family from Champagne, whose son joined de Gaulle's free French army and was the first to find the wine Hitler had stolen and hidden away in the vast underground tunnels under his 'eagle's nest'. Of the Rothschilds and the de Lancquesaings of Bordeaux.

Mostly this is a tale of how the very enterprising French winemakers managed to hide away their most precious wines by bricking over part of their cellars so the Germans would not find them, and how they managed to keep the Germans supplied with the millions of bottles they demanded each year, including up to half a million bottles of champagne a week!

I can highly recommend the book for anyone with an interest in wine, or in the second world war.

Title: Wine and War
Catégorie: Books
Sous-Catégorie: Non-Fiction
Author: webmaster
Related Link: Wine and War on Amazon.fr
Added: Nov 13, 2008
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