In June 1940, France fell to Nazi Germany, and the occupiers quickly set their sights on one of the country's greatest treasures: its wine. Award-winning journalists Don and Petie Kladstrup, authors of Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure, join host Noah Tetzner to tell the story of the winemakers who hid, smuggled, and sabotaged their wine to keep it out of German hands.

Don and Petie explain who the weinführers were: German wine merchants the Reich sent into France to buy up its best bottles, many of whom ended up protecting the very trade they were sent to exploit. They share stories of false walls, wine siphoned from Germany-bound trains and replaced with water, a housekeeper who scattered rat droppings to stop German officers from turning a Bordeaux château into a brothel, and Alsace winemakers who deliberately misdirected shipments. They also discuss Bordeaux merchant Louis Eschenauer, convicted of economic collaboration after the war; what became of the wine the Germans took, including the cache found at Hitler's Eagle's Nest; and the 1947 Vouvray from Gaston Huet that first showed them wine could be more than a drink.

In this episode:

- What happened to French wine when Germany occupied France in 1940?

- Who were the weinführers, and why did some French winemakers say they saved French wine?

- How did French winemakers hide and sabotage their wine?

- What happened to the wine the Nazis took?

- Why does war keep shaping the story of French wine, especially in Champagne?

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome and introduction

02:26 A 1947 Vouvray and a prisoner of war's thimbleful of wine

04:43 How a CBS assignment brought the Kladstrups to Paris

06:25 Why the Nazis wanted France's wine

08:24 Who were the weinführers?

12:52 Five winemaking families and the making of Wine and War

16:34 Finding the witnesses, and the ones who wouldn't talk

19:15 War stories told for the first time

22:46 False walls, siphoned trains, and rat droppings: favorite acts of resistance

26:57 Collaboration and the case of Louis Eschenauer

31:15 Where did the stolen wine go?

33:52 What they wish people understood about French wine

37:26 Their first memorable bottle: a 1961 or 1969 Cheval Blanc?

39:06 One region for life, and why they both chose Champagne

Links and resources:

Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure (Penguin Random House): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/93445/wine-and-war-by-don-and-petie-kladstrup/

Champagne Charlie: The Frenchman Who Taught Americans to Love Champagne (Bookshop.org): https://bookshop.org/p/books/champagne-charlie-the-frenchman-who-taught-americans-to-love-champagne-don-kladstrup/adfa023b3bee6548

Enjoyed this episode? Share it with your favorite wine friends and invite them to listen as they open a new bottle. Follow The Vintage Passport wherever you listen to podcasts for new episodes every week.

Connect with the host: noah@profitwithpodcasting.com