Champagne: How the World's Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed Over War and Hard Times

by Don Kladstrup, Petie Kladstrup

Overview

The authors of the international bestseller Wine and War chronicle the untold dramatic history of Champagne from the 13th century through the crucibles of two world wars to the 21st century

Throughout history, waves of invaders including Franks, Visigoths, Burgundians, Merovingians, Barbarians, Alamanshave swept across the verdant region of Champagne in southern France. Yet this region, which historians say has suffered more invasions, battles, and wars than any other place on earth, is also the birthplace of the one ingredient that above all others epitomizes joy: champagne.

Gallant Harvest tells the fascinating, little-known story of champagne, the world’s favorite wine.

Don and Petie Kladstrup share how a sparkling beverage that was the toast of Belle Epoque society not only survived the bloodbath of World War I, but grew even more popular in the war’s wake. Thorughout they introduce gutsy, larger-than-life characters determined to preserve their land and their grapes; vintners for whom champagne is not only their heritage and livelihood but a part of their souls and the soul of their nation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060737931
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/28/2006
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	1,115,293
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.72(d)

About the Author

Don and Petie Kladstrup are former journalists who have written extensively about wine and France for numerous publications. Don, a winner of three Emmys and numerous other awards, was a foreign correspondent for ABC and CBS television news. Petie, an Overseas Press Club winner, was a newspaper journalist and more recently protocol officer for the U.S. ambassador to UNESCO. The Kladstrups divide their time between Paris and Normandy.

Don and Petie Kladstrup are former journalists who have written extensively about wine and France for numerous publications. Don, a winner of three Emmys and numerous other awards, was a foreign correspondent for ABC and CBS television news. Petie, an Overseas Press Club winner, was a newspaper journalist and more recently protocol officer for the U.S. ambassador to UNESCO. The Kladstrups divide their time between Paris and Normandy.

Editorial Reviews

Compelling… a lovingly written ode to this incomparable, festive wine.” — New York Newsday on Champagne

From the Publisher

Compelling… a lovingly written ode to this incomparable, festive wine.

New York Newsday on Champagne

Compelling… a lovingly written ode to this incomparable, festive wine.

New York Newsday

The history of champagne and the history of France are inextricably linked. Just as the fields of Champagne served as battlefields in both world wars, the revered vintages of the region's vineyards have stirred fierce wars and nationalistic displays. Don and Petie Kladstrup previously chronicled French "wine patriotism" during WWII in Wine & War; now they pour out a fascinating account of the world's favorite wine, in a narrative that includes appearances by King Louis XIV, Dom Perignon, and Napoleon Bonaparte.

Champagne is champagne because it comes from Champagne. But there's much more to it than that, as the wine-loving Kladstrups (Wine & War, 2001) document in this sometimes fizzy portrait of the bubbly. Faux naivete may be at play when, by way of opening, the Kladstrups let drop the hint that they were shocked to learn that the Great War was horrific; that certainly isn't news to the people of France's much-fought-over Champagne region. That four-year conflict proves central to the authors' account of how bubbly survived the odds to become a drink known around the world-and to become an ever-rarer commodity in parts of it, as when Cristal went from selling 600,000 bottles a year at the beginning of WWI in St. Petersburg alone, "exclusively for the czar," to selling nothing in Russia after the Revolution, nearly bankrupting the house of Roederer. Closer to home, the war threatened to destroy some of France's most productive vineyards, which previous wars had destroyed many times over since the days of the Roman conquest and Attila. The Kladstrup's travelogue, real and metaphorical, through the Champagne region-battles over which were waged by French bureaucrats and boosters, too, as to just what the region comprised and who was entitled to use its "controlled denomination"-gets a little almanac-like at times, lending a sort of everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about feel to the enterprise. Still, there's good history to be found here, and plenty of treasures in that surfeit of facts and trivia; the authors' account of a drunken German retreat at the beginning of WWI is a standout, as is their minibiography of the since-appropriated Dom Perignon, who didn't really invent champagne-"itinvented itself"-but still deserves glory for his work in raising the global quality of life with his exquisite blends of potent grape juice. Not the definitive history of champagne, but a pleasing contribution, to be read over a mimosa or a magnum.

Kirkus Reviews