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

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This is not a book about wine--it's actually a non-fiction historical thriller with wine as the prize. All you need to know about wine is what most people know: Wine is part of the French soul. It is not merely a drink or a product. It is more important than all the perfumes and fashions and cheeses put together. Even those funny cars the French make that look like vacuum cleaners. Nothing in American cultural life has similar status.

At the outset of World War II France suffered the shame and disgrace not of defeat but of total collapse. She had the world's largest army--one that gave the Germans pause, in fact-- and yet somehow was under the Nazi jackboot in about six weeks. Naturally, the Nazis set about to systematically loot the country.

Here I'd like to ask a question I've not seen asked before: the Nazis took it as written that they and their culture were absolutely superior to everyone else in the world. Why then their unbridled need to steal the cultural riches of all the nations they conquered? Some booty was sold to finance the war, but most of the cultural treasures--France's wines and artworks, for example--were stolen merely out of greed and jealousy.

When it came to looting France's wines, the Nazis were well-organized. They appointed experts called weinfuhrers to organize the theft, much of which was conducted under a charade of legality: The Nazis overvalued the mark, devalued the franc, closed all other export markets, told the producers what their prices would be and ordered them to sell the wine. Here Don and Petie Kladstrups unveil the amazingly inbred world of wine, in which everbody of importance seems to be related to, married to or employed by someone else of equal importance. As the authors show, this meant the weinfuhrers were sometimes as loyal to France as to Germany.

The winemakers resisted as often as they could and perpetrated many frauds on the Nazis. They saved a fair amount of their greatest wines and sold the Wehrmacht as much plonk as they could get away with. The Kladstrups tell how--and in doing so they have rescued a small but important piece of history. The New Europe leans toward institutional forgetfulness today--and so does France herself. Memories of collaboration intrude all too easily, and these are followed by nettlesome ambiguities and doubts. Ratting on your neighbor was collaboration, but so was trading with the Nazis--even when you had no choice. Marshal Petain, head of the Vichy government was condemned at war's end and DeGaulle hailed as a hero--but surely it was easier to be heroic in London?

There are a couple of minor factual errors and a couple of anecdotes that aren't credible, but most of this complicated but absorbing tale rings true. Some scenes the Kladstrups re-create are slyly amusing, a few are comic and many--the best of themn--are intensely moving. These were proud people, remember, whose faces were ground into the dirt by brutish conquerors every day. For five years they struggled desperately to save their lives and their families, their self-respect and their hope for a future.

It's a hell of a story.

I wasn't looking for some grand new revelations about WWII when I bought this book and I didn't get any. What I did get was an easy-to-read series of inspirational stories and breezy anecdotes about how French vignerons managed to keep their livelihoods and some of their wines at a time when the outcome of the war was very much in doubt.
There is a decidedly pro-French slant to the stories, most of the Germans are made to look like bumbling Colonel Klinks and the French are mostly portrayed as patriotic tools of or members of the Resistance, cleverly hobbling German designs at every turn. To be fair, some Germans are singled out as "righteous gentiles", but these are never Mein Kampf-believing Nazis.
What I like is what I learned about the wine business. There are all sorts of little tidbits about how winemakers can adulterate wine, mislabel wine, and generally fool the general wine-consuming public, not to mention the Wehrmacht. But the book is also filled with tales of winemaking as a craft and a labor of love.
The climax of the book is foreshadowed in the beginning, when French troops were racing to be first to Hitler's Eagles Nest to get a crack at repatriating the fine wines they knew were there.
American readers who were there might well be annoyed by the feeling that the French High Command thought more about rescuing the wine than they did about helping to finish off the Nazis.
That aside, if you love wine as well as stories of good guys outsmarting the bad, then you should enjoy Wine and War.

Having traveled throughout many of the areas covered by the Kladstrups in this remarkable book, I was captured by the not-often told history of the vineyards during World War II. While certainly not expecting a weighty academic tome about the French-German parley over the wine business, I certainly enhanced my appetite to learn more about the actual mechanics of the murky business dealings between the German occupiers (many of whom were pre-war acquaintances of the vintners themselves) and the French vintners.
The book is an easy read; and while history has obfuscated the difference between those in the French Resistance, and those who 50 years ex post facto claim to have been part of the Resistance, I believe the Kladstrups made an honest effort to provide a semblance of balance.
But for those of us who love French wine, the stories of how precious stores of vintage wines were hidden from the Nazis are truly remarkable. I would have loved to have seen a couple of more chapters towards the end of the book, demonstrating how the vineyards got back on their feet, and more importantly, how the pre-war German-French relationships were reestablished.
If you are looking for a good summertime read, this book is for you. A very casual and enjoyable read.

You will learn as much about the French wine industry from this book as you will learn about the French Resistance. But that is a good thing. The book brings the German occupation of France down to a very personal level. The reader will learn the interesting personal stories of the people associated with the great names in French wine. The book is very fair in its coverage, in that not all Germans are vile pigs (only some are), and not all Frenchmen are heroic resistance fighters (though some are). Overall, this is a well written book that reads quickly and will not disappoint.

This is an engrossing, and distinctive observation on one of the many impacts of World War II on both France and Germany. It is not simply a book about French wine, but a broader study of the impact of the German occupation upon French daily life. What is fascinating is how much the Germans coveted French cuisine, and especially wine, and how gluttony inspired the Nazi government's quest to strip the French larder as part of spoils of war. "Wine and War" does indicate what a highly regarded treasure French wine represents in Western culture.

This is a terrific read if you like wine or enjoy history (and is twice the pleasure for those, like me, who appreciate both). It is not a serious, scholarly history of the war, but instead a compilation of various anecdotes -- oral history being put into print. From a historical perspective, what I found the most interesting was the author's indication of how the legacy of the harsh reparations extracted from Germany by France in World War I came back to haunt the French in terms of the German thirst for revenge in the Second World War. There is an element of suspense throughout the book, in terms of the Germans possibly killing the goose that laid the golden eggs (though the reader already knows the outcome). However, the work manages to represent that beyond the greed and thuggery of some Germans, a number maintained a sense of humanity and long range vision regarding a people who would always remain their neighbors.

You won't learn alot about wine reading this book; you will learn more about history. But what you will learn about French wine is what a covetted treasure this has regarded in any of the German-French conflicts, and what a critical part of French culture it represents.

Very early in WINE & WAR we are given a description of the bucolic and pastoral life that French winegrowers enjoyed. It was a life "of legend and myth, a life which, in many ways, had changed little since the middle ages...plowing was done with horses. Planting, picking, and pruning were done according to the phases of the moon. Older people often reminded younger ones that the merits of pruning were discovered when St.Martin's donkey got loose in the vineyards." The authors have woven together winegrowers tales, geography, viticulture science and French culture to give us a very enjoyable history of "the kingdom of wine" during WWII.

Winemaking had a history of troubles even before the war. Phylloxera, an insect that attacked the vines roots, nearly wiped out the industry in the mid 19th century; the Depression followed and then destruction from the trench warfare and artillery barrages of the "Great War". The book reveals an interesting fact about assistance America provided. We know the French are grateful for our fighting on the battlefields during both wars, but some help is probably still a bit hard to swallow. During the Phylloxera blight "the remedy was something totally un-French. Growers discovered that by grafting their vines onto American rootstocks, which were naturally resistant to the root eating louse, they could save them." Lest this fact cause us to swell with pride, the authors tell a humorous story of sacrilege committed by an American Colonel, sufficient to embarrass wine lovers everywhere. After an Allied operation near the Rhone river, the French, in gratitude presented some of Burgundy's finest wines to the Americans. Being naturally hospitable we invited French soldiers and their General to share. The "waiters marched in bearing the bottles on silver trays [the bottles] were bubbling gently"; the Colonel had ordered the wine be served hot, heating it with medical alcohol. The authors say that the French General "faced with the greatest crisis so far in Franco-American relations" nevertheless drained his glass but "murmured, 'Liberation, liberation, what crimes have been commited in thy name!'".

Humorous anecdotes and tales of bizarre behavior are scattered throughout and are used to show how the French had an all consuming passion for preserving their national treasure. The account of Operation Anvil is a perfect example. French and American troops were to attack from southern France, through the Rhone Valley and Burgundy, and link up with the Allies pushing out from Normandy. The operation was frought with delays. Perhaps its unofficial name offers an explanation. The Champagne Campaign went through parts of France renown for food, drink, scenery, and entertainment. Some strategic decisions also played a role. French General Monsabert (the same one who suffered the hot libation for liberation's sake) ensured that no more crimes were committed. He planned some attacks and it was no coincidence that the French "advanced up the western side of the Rhone, where the best vineyards were planted. The Americans went up the other side, where the lesser growths were." The French seriousness about their wine is highlighted by the fact that an intelligence Colonel delayed an attack on the Cote d'Or or the Golden Escarpment - the site of Burgundy's best vineyards - until he received a report that "we have found the weak point[s] in the German defenses. Every one is on a vineyard of inferior quality."

There were other threats that were not military. Economic crimes were committed that were perhaps even a greater disaster to winemaking. The book tells about the Weinfuhrers; former German businessmen, who, knowing the wine industry, were commissioned into the Army and sent to France for the sole purpose of administering the shipment of wine to Germany. They operated from Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne. There are chapters describing the massive shipments of wine to Germany, and how the French responded by hiding the best vintages, and fobbing off lesser quality wines. This section of the book deals with the intriguing economics of the business. Economic conditions grew worse as the war turned against Germany. More and more was demanded from France: wine, food, farm horses, metals, supplies, and eventually men to work in Germany. The French turned on the Vichy government, president Petain and prime minister Laval and also began actively resisting Germany. The French Resistance, there from the beginning, became popular by 1943 following the setting up of the Service du Travail Obligatore (STO), a program of forced labor where men were sent to work in German industry. Germany also began using wine as a solvent and as industrial alcohol. To ensure that it was not sold or drunk, heating oil was added; this spoilt it for human consumption, but more than anything else, enraged the French.

WINE & WAR is well written and offers a unique look at France during WWII. It will be of interest to history buffs, fans of WWII military exploits, readers who don't mind economics and geography, and of course, wine lovers.

In the incomparable film _Casablanca_, Rick and Ilsa are in a café in Monmartre, worrying about the approach of the Germans to take over Paris. Rick says, "Henri wants us to finish this bottle then three more. He says he'll water his garden with champagne before he'll let the Germans drink any of it." The invaluable Sam then says it takes the sting out of being occupied, Rick says, "Here's looking at you, kid," and the Germans come on. It's a good bet they didn't get any of Henri's prized champagne. That was fictional, but it's true, too. The French had many ways of denying the Germans the pleasures of their vineyards, and many of the ways were overwhelmingly successful. The amazing story is told in _Wine & War: The French, the Nazis, & the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure_ (Broadway Books) by Don and Petrie Kladstrup, and it is a rousing one, a view of the war never before told.

It is fun to read the stories of how the winemakers fooled the Nazis, making false walls in their cellars and gathering spiders to the wall, so that they might make the wall look old, or putting bad wine into bottles that bore good labels. It must have delighted the French when they could fob bad wine off as good without the Nazis knowing any better. Many of the cloak-and-dagger operations involving wines and winemakers were far from funny, however successful they might have been. The wine cellars, many of which were labyrinthine caves that had been dug centuries before, proved to be excellent places to hide members of the Resistance. Also, those with cellars turned out to be sources of valuable intelligence. A big shipment ordered for "a very hot country" turned out to be among the first indications the Allies had that the North African campaign was beginning.

_Wine & War_ explains how the German "wine fuehrers" played a dangerous double game, helping the winemakers to keep their trade going. It also gives a vintner's view of the history of the collaboration government of Field Marshal Pétain, who was himself a vineyard owner. It explains how much the memories of wine helped inspire French prisoners of war, and how the dangerous furtive manufacture of copper sulfate (used to combat fungus) was carried out underneath the nose of the Germans, who wanted copper for the war effort. It shows how although many of the vineyards at liberation were ruined, some of them could break open their walled-up bottles and sell them to gain funds to get everything started again. This is a fascinating book which will please those interested in the history of the period, as well as those who know something about wines. Ronald Barton, who ran estates in Bordeaux, used to make it a practice to drink one of his good bottles of wine with dinner throughout the war. His private toast was, "Here's one less for the Germans if they win, one less for my heirs if we do." Winemakers throughout France helped in many surprising ways to make it the heirs' loss.

Amazing. While France, for the most part, collaborates with the Nazis and sentences its Jewish population to certain death, the French are concerned with WINE. Any way you look at it...there is something wrong with this picture.

As an American in France, one of my areas of interest is the similarities and differences between our peoples and cultures. And both wine and war certainly set us apart. Everyone realizes wine is a significant part of the French culture, though few understand why. And we Americans are fortunate to have (almost) always been victorious in war. It's very difficult to appreciate each other's points of view on war when the French have been invaded on their home turf so many times. Not us.

So I found this book provided just a bit more insight into both areas. Helped to lift the fog a bit about the French. While you'll learn a little about wine from this book, it doesn't really scratch the surface in that regard, though I doubt it intended to. (If you want to do that, go read the DK guidebook `French Wines: The Essential Guide to the Wines and Wine Growing Regions of France.) But I thought the Kladstrup's did a good job providing some insights into the role wine played - and still does - in the French culture. This is not so much a book about Paris and city life as the rest of France. It's about an agricultural industry's fight to survive during the suicidal years of Europe in the last century.

Several of the other reviewers have done a good job describing the books contents. I'll just end by saying I would have preferred a more in-depth treatment of the French - German relationships. But given the sensitive nature of talking to the few remaining survivors and families about what still is a certainly painful memory for the French, I think Don and Petie Kladstrup did a good job in producing a pleasant read on a somewhat unique topic. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to the glass of French wine I poured myself while sitting down to write this review. Recommended (both the book and my wine!)

The Kladstrups have written a fine account about a little known aspect of both the wine world and World War II. The myriad machinations of French winemakers to keep their best wines out of German Army cellars are fascinating. So too are the many tales of subterfuge: some subtle, some rather dangerously overt. I first met Don Kladstrup in 1976, when he was a reporter for CBS News and I was a freelance cameraman. We spent much time together during the hostage crisis in Iran, and I was always impressed by his writing. When you read WINE & WAR, be sure to have a glass of fine Bordeaux at your side- it adds a certain air of verisimilitude.

What a fascinating book. The story of the vignerons and their participation in the French Resistance during WWII is immensely palatable and its anecdotal style makes it a pleasure to read. The authors have stumbled across a rich wine and have let the reader inhale its bouquet to the full.
We hear many stories of bravery. For example, Gaston Huet, who spent most of the war in a POW camp, and his organisation of a wine celebration that covered an escape but also gave great heart to those whose horticultural life had been ripped apart by an an occupying army whose senior intent was to milk France of its greatest produce. The race to hide some of the wine regions greatest vintages from the Germans provides some of occupied Frnace's most amusing and fearful stories. We gain an insight to life under the occupation, the food shortages experienced, and the daily dangers, but, above all, we understand the sense of unity that developed amongst those seeking to preserve France's greatest treasure.
Through the stories we learn of the weinfuhrers - men like Klaebisch and Gomer - who were tasked by Berlin to keep a crippling supply of wine and champagne sent to Germany, but who recognised that Goring's wish to strip France of all its wealth would leave a devastated land. These men sought to work with those remaining to produce the wine whilst suffering from the increasing actions of the Resistance who destroyed and stole many shipments of wine and food - the constant letters of Henri Galliard testify to this. Amidst the stories of a people struggling to survive and preserve the great wines of France we see how it played a greater part in the war - for example, large orders to ship to certain fronts indicated where German offensives would commence - right up to the preservation of Paris when the German's left. The only item they destroyed was a wine storage facility.
The authors have combined to produce a lively popular history of France's wine regions during WWII and it anecdotal style makes this a pleasure to read. Immensely fascinating.

Despite a long bibliography at the back of the book, the book suffers from a lack insightful analysis and sharp writing. Although it is fun to hear about the wine (I actually have a greater interest in French wine as a result of reading the book) the book glosses over the historical complexities. As far as a history book goes, it provides very little. Everyone comes out a winner. The Kladstrups seem hesitant to criticize anyone whom they actually name, covering potential sins of collaboration or weakness with elaborate descriptions of wine, dinners, and romantic portrayals of life in the vinyard. They seem as reluctant to delve into things as the French did after the war. The chapter on the collaborator who made millions in wine deals with the Germans, "Uncle Louis," remains uncritical of such profiteering. It is as though most of the writing took place after a long meal with several glasses of wine. A disappointing read.

I honestly don't know what to make of this book. On the one hand, it contains fascinating stories, and is an inspiring account of people so devoted to their country and its "greatest treasures" that many risked everything to protect them. But the book leaves an unsettling aftertaste. It forgives too readily (and often overlooks) those who protected their interests not by resisting the Nazis but by capitulating to them.

An anecdote. When I visited a major Cognac producer some summers ago, the house's tour leader explained how its ancient stores of brandy had survived the Nazi occuation of France: They had not been looted because the owners had "made a deal" with the Nazis. One wonders how many innocent deaths that deal and others like it had underwritten. Such treachery is more integral to the story of Vichy France than the resistance of those who hid treasures (and even people) in cellars and caves. But the Kladstrups only barely acknowledge this dark history.

Where the narrative does strive for balance, it instead achieves a confusing schizophrenia. In one chapter the "weinfuhrer" of Bordeaux (a chief bureaucrat of the occupying Nazis) seems almost noble, acting as virtuously as possible within the constraints of the leviathan to which he was indentured. But a later chapter conveys enough evidence of his deceit and villainy that one concludes he is no different from the typical Nazi beast. These conflicting perspectives do not appear to reflect
the complexity of the man; rather, it seems the two authors were simply unable to agree on what position to take, and careless editing neglected to synthesize the various accounts.

The book is well worth the read. But it has little value as a work of history and almost none as a morality tale.

If you are "into" wine, this is a great summer read. You'll have heard of most (if not all) of the major wine estates (if not people) mentioned, and it's a diverting, enjoyable story, especially if read with a glass of the appropriate wine. BUT if you are looking for serious historical facts . . . forget it! This is "history-lite" and contains too many factual errors to be taken as History.

Read this book for entertainment but do not regard it as history. Despite the many notes at the end, there is little understanding. Kladstrup places Liebling in France during the war; he was in North Africa after a pre-war assignment in France. He relates a story about hiding bottles in a pond during WWI in Bordeaux. The Germans were never near Bordeaux in WWI, except at sea. Not to say the book is fantasy, but it is a fantastic account of the light side of the war, tiny as the light side was. Imagine the conversation of aging fishermen after the third round. Enjoy and use it as a source for many other books, and especially The New Yorker references.

This book was an unexpected delight! The truth of the exploits of the French to save their wine, their livelihood, and their country's identity during the Nazi Occupation of WWII is told from very individual perspectives. We learn of winemakers struggling to keep their vineyards alive despite a shortages of able-bodied men and copper sulfate, trampling by troops, blackouts, droughts, and raiding Nazi soldiers. even if your knowledge of wine is minimal, names like Chateau Lafite-Rothschild and Moet are likely to ring a bell. To understand the struggles that these families endured and often overcame becomes very real and understandable in the writings of the authors. The human toll of war as well as the economic costs are played against the unflagging spirit of the people and their love of the land, the wine, and their country. Not only is this a great story of wine and war but of patriotism as well. It has been convenient to belittle the French in recent times relative to their attitude about war, but this book reminds us that they endured something we were fortunate never to have to deal with -- enemy occupation and the resultant destruction and demoralization.

This is a pleasant book which reads quite quickly past the first 80 pages. The beginning is indeed a little slow. Besides, am I already too old that I consider awkward to be told what is a ghetto and what was Kristallnacht?

The authors probably remained faithful to the stories they were told, but it is a little weird to read that Ms So and So was hiding Jews in a shed in the garden while the Germans were occupying her château, but still she was lucky because she could save her wines. Strange perspective.

Apart from that, I delighted in various anecdotes, for example the way the Résistance learned about German troops' progression by the orders they sent to the French châteaux.

All things considered, the book is... well... very human.

Today, much of the wine business is just that - business. This book is a reminder that wine is also about family, friendship and tradition. The Kladstrups have written a sympathetic, even romantic account of how the French wine families survived during WWII. From a vintner's perspective, this war was largely fought on family farms and in ancient villages. The authors have done a great job of revealing the intriguing personalities, French and German, of the wine community of that time. Don't be fooled by the title. The book is indeed about wine and war, but it is mainly about people.

In an era when books and movies and TV specials about World War II abound, it is refreshing to find a book with a very different focus. By telling us stories of different wine growers and wine makers in France during World War II, the Kladstrups give us a balanced picture of war, and what it does to all human beings and their various enterprises. I am not quite finished with the book yet, but I am enjoying it. Savoring it, and sharing bits of it with my husband; much as I would a good bottle of wine. Definitely a book I will recommend to others.

This is a fine bit of feature journalism, preserving a collection of wartime tales that no one else seems to have ever recorded. At this late date many of the stories are told by the children or grandchildren of the people involved, so the preservation of these tales is all the more a service.

The dilemma faced by the French wine industry under the Nazi occupation was stark: How to avoid ruin, either from expropriation or execution. The Vichy government saved the Jewish Rothschild maison by making it a state property. Others banded together and tried to keep the Germans mollified as best they could. They frequently sent inferior grades of wine to the Wehrmacht, but at least one house was always careful to send their best when the German High Command, who knew their wines, sent in an order. And one interesting fact is that the Germans orders of wine served as an intelligence tool: The Wehrmacht's preparation for action could be judged by how much hooch they were stocking up.

The French vintners proved themselves to be masters of concealment and deception. Wine cellars, barns, and such hid their best products, as well as the maquis. There are a few amusing incidents where the discrete cells of the French Resistance crossed trails. In one, a shipment of high-quality wine is hijacked on its way to Germany. The Resistance fighters celebrate with a tipple from the liberated wine, but discover that the casks have been filled with low-grade junk.

At the end, there are a couple of examples of reconciliation. The German "weinfuhrers", who were in charge of supplying the Reich with French wine, went on trial after the war. In one trial, a French wine official, who was also a Resistance member, sticks up for his German counterpart, blaming the Gestapo for the crimes he is charged with, and helps get him acquitted. Another former Nazi humbly writes to the head of a prominent maison, asking to represent his product in Germany. So the story, like a good wine, ends in a shimmer of bonhomie and good cheer, as much as any story could at the end of such a war.

Wine & War is a socially-focused historical account of predominantly five families of prominent wine-producing regions in France (Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne, Alsace, and the Loire Valley) during the German occupation of France in World War II. This book profiles the courage of the French to not only survive during this time but to protect their national treasure from the glutony of the Third Reich. Through their cleverness and ability to outwit the Germans, the French are ultimately able to preserve much of their prized wine. This book takes you on an inspiring journey through that time via accounts of those who lived through it as well as their relatives. Fascinating and insightful, I highly recommend this book for wine aficionados, francophiles, and those planning to visit the remnants of Berchtesgaden or Kehlsteinhaus.

This unusual survey of the French wine industry might sound initially like a food book; but Wine & War provides an in-depth examination of the French's conflicts with the Nazis and the battle for its wine industry. Three years of eyewitness interviews and research lend to stories of the men and women who risked their lives to save their industry from Nazi ruin.

I did indeed enjoy the book "Wine and War". It was a spececial book about an extra ordinary place. I now live in Germany and work there for the Defence Department . A close friend of mine has a summer home in the Loire region of France and so this book really was set in some familiar territory. If a reader loves French wines, as I do, and has an interest in World War II, then this book is a must. If you have traveled in the wine regions of France you'll love it. ENJOY

What a wonderful book. Laughter, tears, courage, history and all centered around wine. This is a story of how an industry that is integral to the soul of a people survived a traumatic time. It is the little stories of defiance and small triumphs that sometimes make a terrible event more understandable.

You do not have to care about wine to enjoy this book, but the profiles in this book taught me more about the heart and soul of wine than all my reading of Parker and Tanzer (Clive Coates too for the Brits!).

This is a wonderful casual read. I could hardly put it down and was sad to come to the end of such remarkable tales. The authors have made an interesting collection of anecdotes into a fine story full of charm, humor, drama, danger and a dash of treason that reads like a good novel. When I finished I felt as though I had been on vacation and was saying goodbye to old friends too soon.

This book tells the story of French wine makers and wine during the Second World War. In the introduction, the authors point how important wine is to France. "It is not just a beverage or commercial product to be poured from a bottle. It is much more than that. Like the flag,...it goes to the country's heart and soul." That said, the history of World War Two in France cannot be considered complete without the tales of what happened to the wine and the winemakers.

The book is organized in chronological fashion, starting in 1939, the last pre-war grape harvest. Each subsequent year of the war is represented in one or more chapters of details and war stories. We read about wine makers who are sent to POW camps, the "weinfuhrers", Germans whose job it was to manage the wine industry in occupied France, and families of wine makers whose men-folk are away fighting or imprisoned. The authors point out how useful it could be to keep tabs on wine, such as when the Resistance was able to notify British intelligence about an imminent invasion in North Africa based on their tracking of wine shipments by the Germans.

At the beginning of each chapter is a picture of a wine scene related to the war. Unfortunately, the pictures are printed in extremely light shades of gray and white and virtually uninterpretable as a result. Captions for the pictures appear only in the List of Illustrations at the beginning of the book. The book includes an index, but no bibliography. (Much of the material for the book came from extensive personal interviews.)

For the most part, the book is informative, but it doesn't quite live up to the lofty promises of the introduction. Part of the problem is that a number of the stories from the wine makers that the authors uncovered aren't all that remarkable. In other cases, war histories of individual wine makers are chopped up to fit in the chronological organization of the chapters, which detracts from the overall coherence. Nonetheless, historians of the Second World War may find substantial material of interest in this book.

you will find this book cutting thru the fog of incomprehensible wine labels. Wines are made for people, consumed by people and ultimately resided in the soul of the people. Ever wonder why reference has always been made to wine in literature since time immemorial; from Plato to Omar Khayyam to Shakespeare. Read this book and you will understand the passion shared - even amongst enemies in the middle of a world war.

This is a wonderful book. I purchased it as a wine lover but finished it being far more interested in French history than I had previously been. This is a book much more about the French people during the brief period from the late 1930s to the end of WWII than about wine itself. It is a book that illustrates a history I had previously ignored.

The story follows several wine families from the major wine regions: Bordeaux, Champagne, the Rhone, and Burgundy. The book also looks closely at the Germans who were ultimately placed in charge of these area's vinyards. It is the relationship between the growers and the German wine chiefs that makes for the most interesting part of the book.

My only criticism would be that the book could have been longer, with more stories and detail.

The book lacked writing style and content. The book is written in a very primitive boring language. Short simple sentences made me think that the book is written for teenagers. Part of it could be due to the translation of the stories from French to English. Now, content... I'm still trying to understand what point the authors were trying to make. This is a convoluted compellation of stories loosely woven in a WWII timeline. Authors have taken stories of 20 rich wine families and applied them to the entire nation, which made for a very rosy account of one of the most tragic wars in the 20th century...

A light, easy read. Not much depth or breadth. Buy it used or check it out at the library. You'll finish reading it in two evenings.

As compared to "The Algeria Hotel", which covers the same period, this book is almost naive in its coverage of WW2, the Resistance and the relation the French had with the Germans.
The purpose of the book is to demonstrate that by hiding their wine, the French were "resisting". This is as false as the claims in the years after WW2 that the French resistance, the heroic Maquis, had defeated the German occupation. The American army defeated the Germans and liberated France. And the overwhelming majority of the French "collaborated", actively or passively with the Germans. The reason the French winegrowers hid their wine was of pure economics, and egotistical business. (No one is more avaricious than the French peasants.) I'm not sure I blame them for preserving their estates. But to claim this was done for patriotic reasons is disingenuous, extremely disingenuous. One of the features of French who try to hide their "collaboration" is to claim that they "saved a Jew". Even the apologists for Petain and Laval will tell you that their goal was to save the "French Jews", but not the refugee Jews who were in Vichy France. Which is completely false. As false as the legend that all French fought in the Resistance. Even when they have medals, the medals of the Liberation. Any doubts? How about Papon, who claimed that he was just a bureaucrat signing papers to send Jews and French patriots to concentration camps.
The Kladstrups have swallowed, hook, line and sinker the lies of the French.

This book recounts the French wine industry's response to Nazi occupation during World War II. It details the adventures of several of France's most prominent wine families, those families' contributions to French underground resistance movements, and their struggles to keep their best bottles out of German hands. For wine lovers, the book gives a new appreciation of France's long tradition of winemaking. For the history buff, the book offers a glimpse into how the war threatened to destroy a hallmark of French culture and shows how civilians offered their own brand of resistance to Nazi occupation. For either wine or history lovers, the book is worth reading.

Nobody other than the French could even begin to explain their love of wine. It's certainly nothing to do with alcohol abuse, since their drinking habits are very moderate by most countries standards. 'Wine & War' attempts to explain this phenomenon by examining the lives of some of the vintners during the war years.

Above all, many wine producers went to extreme lengths to hide their best wines from the occupying forces. Not because they didn't want the Germans to have them (there were many who collaborated with and sold their wine to the Germans), but because they didn't feel the Germans would appreciate them. On this point, they were probably right, since the real significance of their wine to the Germans was in its economic value.

In the French view, their passion for wine "contributed to the French race by giving it wit, gaiety, and good taste, qualities which set it profoundly apart from people who drink a lot of beer." Being a French resident, I am sometimes given to wonder what happened to the gaiety and wit, particularly whilst stuck in a traffic jam in the center of Paris! However, there is most certainly a national enthusiasm and pride for the nectar of the grape, and Don & Petie Kladstrup set out to try to explain it. It goes deeper than just the bouquet or taste of the wine, it goes to an appreciation of contact with the earth, the passing of the seasons, the passion of the producer. In any other country you would be considered a food snob if you spoke in these terms. In France you are an ignoramus if you don't. In every day terms, there is very little snobbery attached to wine.

Wine & War is an entertaining read, though, for me, it left behind many unanswered questions (unrelated to wine). Like why were the French so willing to forgive the Germans after WWII? The French are proud people whose loss of face during a catastrophic six week surrender has never been truly forgotten. For over four years they struggled to save their lives and their families. And they have struggled ever since to regain their self-respect. This is why the authors of Wine & War sometimes had difficulty extracting stories from the winegrowers. Some things are best forgotten, it seems.

Where Don & Petie Kladstrup succeed is in explaining the French passion for wine. Where they don't quite succeed is in a proper explanation of the French psyche that is still troubled about their calamitous war. In a book that explores the war years, I believe some such explanation was necessary. Otherwise, an excellent read.

I was very impressed with the gatheing of stories about winemakers and their families, many of whom I know. As a member of the Tastevin , I was delighted to read near the end of the book about the first Chapitres after the war. I was so impressed with this book that I ordered eight copies . Some of the copies I will send to friends in Burgundy

Readers should take their cue from the length and title of this book. No book of this size can definitively cover the wine industry in France nor can it address at any length the effects of war on this country. This in not the intent of the authors though, who make it clear in the introduction that this book is instead a collection of stories that give insight into the effects that wars have had on the French people, their wine industry, and the ways some of those in the industry dealt with the German occupation.

For readers who have an interest in both viticulture and winemaking, Wine & War introduces an interesting perspective. Students of winemaking understand the importance of terroir, vineyard management, and enology techniques. How often however, have those of us fortunate enough not to have lived in a war torn country, had to think about bomb craters, poisons leaching into the soil from chemical shells, and no manpower to work the fields? The beginning of the book also briefly discusses previous wars and helps remind us that the seeds of World War II were sown by the Treaty of Versailles, negatively affecting the victors as well as the vanquished.

This book is interesting in that it explores a topic not previously covered. Don't make the mistake of expecting an in depth research piece, but rather think of it as an appetizer. Something to whet your appetite for explorations into meatier works or even as a guide to future travels in the French wine country. Wine & War personalizes the ongoing struggle of the growers and winemakers to produce the best wine possible under adverse conditions and helps the reader understand what an important economic resource wine is to France. Recommended to be read by the fireplace with a nice Bordeaux in hand.

Historical accounts, and memoirs of WWII abound ... but this is the first book I've encountered that focused on the events and circumstances regarding the effects of the war on France's premiere vineyards, winemaking families, and fate of vast cellars of wines (millions of bottles) that lay ripe for plunder.

Before now, I'd seen some direct and indirect references to the massive looting of wine documented in various books and movies on the period ... such as the scene in Steven Ambrose's Band of Brothers in which Easy company uncovers a massive cache of looted vintage luxury champagne in Hitler's Berchtesgaden/Eagle's Nest complex - only to discover that most of it tasted inexplicably like swill. This book not only explains WHY, it also explains who stole them and how those bottles came to be there in the first place.

It's a great book - told as a series of interconnected accounts based on interviews conducted by the authors with winemakers and veterans of the underground resistance who lived (and suffered) though it all.

The storytelling is gripping, fast paced, and, at times, takes on some of the amusing qualities of "Hogan's Heroes", as we see desperate (but oh so clever) winemakers and resistance fighters repeatedly put one over on the occupying forces bent on milking them dry and outright looting them blind. We see massive caves of wines, walled up and hidden from the invaders, we see poor vintages re-labeled as great ones and sold/given to oneologically clueless officers tasked with shipping stolen wines back to Germany ... and we see what happened to those who got caught doing so.

Fiction, even at it's best, sometimes can't hold a candle to some of the crazy (and terrible) things that have already happened in real life.

Highly recommended. The mark of a good book is that it totally immerses you, and won't let go ... and it makes you look for ways to find the time to get back into it, when real life tears you away.

I have given away 12 copies of this book to friends who also love wine. After years of reading wine books "Wine and War" is an absolute delight. The reading is fascinating and fun. It is almost like fiction which makes it all the more interesting. We travel in France. On my next trip into wine country I'm going to check out some of the stories, if I can. This is a must read for any Francophile Wine lover.

There are certainly a number of interesting story lines in this book but it is written in a breezy lightweight style and follows no discernable pattern or outline. Really this is a collection of short stories around a vague central theme of the efforts of "most" Frenchmen to protect their famous wine collections from the Germans. While certainly the stories from Alsace, Burgundy, Champagne and Bordeaux are decidedly different, there are many connected themes, such as the conflict between passive resistance and active collaboration, that remain unexplored. Further, the actual brutality at the doorsteps of many of these people is glossed over in favor of repeated stories about doctored wines with grand cru labels. This could have been a much better, richer book.

This is a great story that has the good guys winning. All the thrills of a great adventure novel.

This is a book for a cool autumn day. When I finished it I immediately opened a nice bottle of wine and toasted the authors, whose descriptions had generated my thirst. First and foremost, this is a book about people, wine industry people in the throes of war. And then there are the Nazis, always prime fodder whether the form be fiction or non-fiction. In some ways the book is like an ensemble movie, with a set of parallel plot threads that are woven together at the end. The climax of the book is truly its high point. The end of the war, the magnificent 1945 vintage, and the individual stories, some quite moving, all come together in a warm and comforting crescendo. Whether you're a wine buff or a WWII buff, this is a very nice read. Keep your glass handy.

I originally picked up this book because I was amused that a positive book could be written about France's efforts in World War II. When France couldn't hold out for longer than two weeks against Germany's invasion, this book makes clear the effort that the winegrowers and the resgions they lived in went through to preserve something central to France's national identity- wine.

Whether discussing the longing of French prisoners in German hands for wine, or the determined efforts of long-established houses to preseve their stocks and traditions in the face of mounting challenges posed by the German and pro-German Grench authorities intent on looting what they could for their own interests. Some discussion of a moderate amount is paid to the efforts of the heroic French Resistance, whose exploits were truly remarkable and dangerous, and one is able to feel the tension and anxiety that the people in the book felt as times grew worse.

While not a wine afficionado, or a fan of France's official efforts during the Second World War, this book was hard to put down, and the shorter length of this book came far too quickly. I learned a lot, came away with greater respect for France and its culture, and hope that the authors continue their writing efforts, as long as it's not another wine book.

I thought this was an original concept of a war story. The authors tell of the French love of the national drink of wine and the German Occupation. The Germans took a portion of the output of the vineyards, and the French were starved for wine. Various stories of the burgundies/champaynes and other assorted wines were told in this conglomoration of a book about wine and WWII. French POWs in a Stalig camp throw a wine party after accumulating wine. Resistance figures siphon off wine from casks bound for Germany. Bad wine is sent to the German occupation authorites. Collaborators sell the drink to the German authorities. Jews are hidden in the vineyards. These are all stories included in this short book.
The concept of this book was interesting. This collection of stories does not lead to a very coherent book, although many of the stories are very interesting. This is more of a fluff book, unless you are interested in wine.

If you want a good World War II history, then this is not the book for you. In fact, if you don't love wine, you won't find this book to be all that interesting at all. In the larger context of history, one could charitably call this a history of one of the many dimensions of the German occupation of France & the French resistance.

It is a fascinating portrayl of the wine-making industry & its subculture, and is an intriguing example of how far some people were willing to go to protect, in the final analysis, a bunch bottles of fermented grape juice. The french & the germans involved in this story are patriots, collaborators & sympathetic occupiers. There stories can be found by the thousands outside of the world of wine. The only distinction is that the french attach such importance to their wines, which give them a sense of their national identity.

As befits a largely insubstantial topic, the book is a quick and easy read. The authors are not trying to impart some Great Message, but are simply trying to tell a pretty interesting tale. It is enjoyable enough to merit 4 stars, but would need more substance for a 5th star.

The quotations from the protagonists and their progeny tell the story. Good thing, too, because the authors' writing style is at best pedestrian. Several times I threw the book across the room because I became so frustrated at the lack of quality in the narrative. The text reads like a biography that a fourth-grade student might bring home, which is very distracting from the story itself. That said, the colorful anecdotes that appear between quotation marks still merit reading the book. After all, I did each time walk across the room and pick up the book to resume reading. Just don't get your hopes up too high.

This book may not win a litterary prize, however I found it very easy to read with many interesting anecdotes. Some of the subterfuges used by the winegrowers to hide their precious wines from the Germans were ingenious and sometimes desperate. The authors tell us about certain events during the war that we have either forgotten or never realized. This book is for you if you love wine and are curious about the war period. Again, don't expect great writing style, but it is still compelling.

I'm not a true blue wine drinker. I do love and appreciate wine, but that wasn't why I bought this book. Instead, I am a 30-something woman who has always had an interest in WWII. When I came across the description for this book, I had to have it. While France wasn't the only country to be overrun by the Nazis, this book gave a refreshing view of the people who lived through their occupation. The War through the eyes of wine lovers was a mix of quiet resistance and clever sleight of hand. I loved it!
I do wish more had been written about the Alsatian region though. The Hugels were the only family that were covered, whereas the regions of Champagne and Burgandy got the most coverage. You would think such a fought over area would have been written about more since it too is prized wine country. Still, this book deserves the 5 stars.

Wine & War will make the perfect gift for that wine buff who has everything: it provides an unusual story of France's clever vintners who protected and rescued France's wine industry from German plunder during World War 2. The extraordinary measures taken to protect bottles and crops alike makes for lively, riveting history.

I enjoyed this book, but...The topic struck me as more suited for a long magazine article rather than a 250-plus page book. Many of the incidents are fascinating. The wine fete at a POW camp was interesting as was the story about Uncle Louis, a prominent wine power broker who may or may-not-have-been a collaborator.
But the authors spend a bit too much time emphasizing how important wine is too France. On one hand we get the point; on the other hand the repeated claims make me wonder if the point is being stretched too far. I'm sure wine is and was very important to the French character, but outside of the vineyards how many people really saw it as something worth dying for? Maybe many, but I wonder.
The other complaint is that the authors tend to take the point of view that anyone involved with wine must be good. The chapter on the weinfurhers was very good, but the story of one such individual seemed rather diluted.
Worth a read if you love the subject of wine, but be prepared to have your attention wander.

Talk about an enjoyable book to read! It has been a while since I was able to just sit down and finish a book from cover to cover in a matter of a few short days...
This book would appeal to anyone who is a WWII buff and purveyer of wine...in fact, you can be be partial to one or the other. The book gives you an excellent portrayal of France during the Nazi occupation...with an emphasis on wine of course, the authors give you insight into France's staple treasure and how the Nazi's were looking to pillage and loot it. Most people associate the Nazi's as thieves who stole France's valuable paintings, jewels and artifacts from her soil. Not too often is it known that the Nazi's were after France's pricless Cru's to not only obtain a significant source of material wealth, but mainly to rob France of her greatest piece of heritage and culture...
The authors portray the French people as not only brave, but highly shrewed in being able to trick the Nazi's into getting substandard wine and often batch that was far inferior to what they had bought (more or less stolen). All in all, this book hits both history and the intracicies behind's France's passion for wine and what the French people in all levels of society did to preserve it...even if it meant the loss of their own lives. Enjoy this book with a glass of good French Burgundy by your side and be swept away like I did....

I had no idea how much the French suffered during World War II. I am jewish and have been well aware since childhood of the brutality imposed on jews during the war. I was not aware of the difficulties imposed by the occupying nazi forces on the local towns and villages of France. I was amazed at the bravery and ingenuity of the French winemakers who were able to preserve much of their beloved wines during times of extreme hardship.

Don and Petie Kladstrup take the reader on a fascinating journey through the French countryside during one of the most horrifying periods of world history. Their descriptions of the unbelievable acts of bravery that took place are gripping.

You don't need to be a wine expert like me to enjoy this book. If you like true stories about courage, adventure, and self-sacrifice, then you will enjoy reading Wine & War.

Mitch Paioff, Author, Getting Started as an Independent Computer Consultant

Getting Started as an Independent Computer Consultant

One of the best 'war' books I have ever read, as it is not about agression, but of collaboration and a love of something which bonds so many together. The repercussions of the strength of these wine families and communities is felt still today.

I have actually just started to re read this boook, and am fascinated again to read about Berchesgarten in the first few pages - a place I have seen, but at the time had NO idea what lay behind those walls. I love books which give you a new perspective on a well written about series of events.

A great book that is very entertaining in a serious way. If you like the history of Europe and of WWII and especially if you are a wine drinker and appreciator this book is for you. Get it here since the price is a lot less than at book stores.

Got wine?
If you do or don't, you'll love Wine and War. This book is a treasure and very good reading.

The story of the French resistance to protect the wine is a very interesting one, well told by the authors of this book. It is clear that the amount of research involved is extraordinary, and the authors do a good job of transmitting to the reader the deep feelings and history involved.

One major comment is that the whole sotry is mainly focused on WWII, making the title "WINE AND WAR" somewhat misleading. As a piece of history, this is not very additive to the history of WWII. The French Resistance has its history well documented, and this is only a portion of its activities. There is some lack of connection between the individual stories and the actual political and military developments of the war, making the stories interesting but disconnected.

Overall, this is a great book if you are a wine enthusiast or if you want somehting to read over a 10 hour flight, but if you are a pure historian, look elsewhere.

If you have ever visited any of the wine region(s) of France, you will find this book incredible. I have visited them all and now I want to go back and see the Chateaus, caves and fields from a totally different view - not so much how they make or store their wine - but see where all these (never before known to me) things happened. I want to see the bullet holes in the walls, the boarded up tunnels where people hid, the lake where they hid the wine and the city streets were a lot of bad things happened. And, if you have not been to France, just your knowledge of the wine you like will shed a brand new appreciation on the winemakers, their history and how they survived to make this for you to now drink and enjoy. This is a must read for anyone who has any appreciation of wine.