Book Review

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(Taken from: http://i43.tower.com/)

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

By: Don and Petie Kladstrup

Champagne: How the World's Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed Over War and Hard Times by Dom and Petie Kladstrup is a compilation of historical events brought together to show how champagne has affected history and vice versa. Many adaptations have been made to the original product and promotion to make it what it is today. Although the book does seem to jump around at times, the authors strung a wide range of events together quite effectively overall. It also can seem fictitious as the writers give more personality to historical figures than any other historical accounts do. It can almost get overwhelming because you are reading about so many big characters with big names in such a short time. But every story told is very interesting and plays an important part in the development of champagne.

My first impression was delight that this book reads like a story more than a dense history book. I assume the author lost some historical authenticity in his manor of writing, but as the book is meant to convey an appreciation of champagne and how it has been affected through history, I think the style of writing is appropriate. The author at times gives a more subjective and superfluous description of characters and events. It makes the book more enjoyable. I like reading about real figures and events and being able to get personality that makes the characters more real in my mind. History can be dry; this livens it up. Since the focus is on the development of champagne, it’s okay that the author does this and his descriptions of the wine and the winemaking process seem very accurate. It’s also impressive how coherently they were able to weave all of these events together, never straying from their purpose to show champagne’s role in history.

The purpose of this book is to show how champagne came to be the celebratory and fanciful drink that it is today. The reader is shown how the perception of wine has changes through the years and the significance of champagne in major events in history. It’s interesting to see how bubbles in wine were something winemakers initially were considered mistakes and indicated bad wine. When King Louis XIV got sick, many blamed his choice of wine. (Even though it was vastly popular.) People took sides: Burgundy or Champagne. Geography was such an important factor in determining the quality of wine. This is especially interesting to read today considering that people are still fighting to break these long-held beliefs as they experiment with different methods, types and growing regions. It wasn’t until much later that doctors began to affirm the health benefits of bubbles in wine and so winemakers began to harness them. This ended a long-going feud between Burgundy and Champagne over the wine market. Also, the mention of famous historical figures catches the reader’s attention. They mention Dom Perignon, King Louis XIV, Marie Antoinette, and Napoleon Bonaparte among others. By crossing all these areas, the book coves a broad range of interests.

In addition to gaining publicity from the endorsements from famous figures, champagne’s presence in popular culture aided its renown. In 1735 King Louis XIV insisted on serving Famous artists helped to popularize the drink. He paid Jean-Francois de Troy to paint a portrait of himself and others, making champagne a focal point of the piece. Troy did something very different from how people were typically portrayed during his time. He painted an erupting bottle of champagne in the middle of the piece. The artwork was immensely popular. 

 

(The Oyster Lunch by Jean-Francois de Troy, taken from: http://www.domainedechantilly.com/)

Many years later, Champagne Charlie was the center of publicity for champagne in America. Champagne Charlie (Charles Heidsieck) began his campaigning in 1852. Although Champagne had found its way to America earlier (a favorite of George Washington), it was never in mass amounts until this time. Champagne Charlie played a huge part in starting the American market and sparking interest and popularity. 

 (Taken from: http://stalkingthebelleepoque.blogspot.com/)

The first section that caused me to connect this book with our class was the part about the experimentations of Dom Perignon, the father of champagne. I like seeing the changes in perception that the book observes. That said, Dom Perignon wrote the first rules about winemaking that are still followed today. People thought these were absurd, especially since some meant a smaller crop. For example, he conceived the idea of pruning. I found this amazing that you can increase the intensity and concentration of flavor in the grapes by cutting back the vines.

Although this book focuses on events on France for obvious reasons, I was surprised at how much effect champagne had globally. There is one section in which the authors explain how exportation has affected winemaking. For example, Louise Pommery adapted her wine to Russian tastes, where she saw a viable market. The wine she exported to Russia was sweeter than the wine she sold at home. We’ve mentioned this in class and it makes complete sense. The same thing is true for food, so why wouldn’t it be true for wine? I had never really thought of it before.

Through the whole book I think it’s really interesting to see the rises and falls of the champagne industry for very different reasons. In some cases, there’s a surge in champagne’s popularity because a public figure declares it their favorite wine. Then people begin to take their word and, I imagine, they want to impress their friends, so they order the same wine as the king prefers. In other cases, it’s the growing season. The book mentions some of the same problems with viticulture as are listed in the Zraly textbook. Then, problems in the wine industry can also occur as a result of problems in the economy. What eventually led to France ratifying so many laws on wine (the many laws Professor Boyer has mentioned many times in class) was dishonesty in the product being sold and price fixing. Boyer actually summed this up quite quickly in our last class. The laws protecting people from geographic fraud in 1905 and the Languedoc protests in 1907 upset many people in the Aube especially who were not considered part of Champagne. “For vignerons in the Aube, who possessed less than five thousand acres of vines, it was a life-and-death matter” (p. 138). The authors dramatize many events in their writing. This issue led people of the Aube to a lack of credibility because, as I mentioned before, geography was important in determining quality. The government needed to intervene to protect people from fraud and price fixing.

Champagne has had different roles to play in different wars and in international relationships. Napoleon used it to negotiate in one of his battles. He was actually quite the wine connoisseur, something that I had never heard about before. He grew up on a vineyard. In America, Champagne Charlie got caught up in the mess of the Civil War when he went to collect assets from previous wine sales. Some refused to pay him, while others gave him cotton. Champagne Charlie unsuccessfully tried to ship the cotton back to Europe, but both of his ships were sunken by the Union Blockade. He was arrested shortly after in Louisiana for spying. His release became a diplomatic ordeal between France and America. In some battles, the wine cellars were raided. It was surprising, however, that the Germans were respectful and paid for the wine—as they viewed the area as already part of their own territory. “’The Germans were so sure of their victory,’ said one vigneron, ‘that they were already considering [the vineyards] as their own fiefdom’” (p. 158). In this quote you can also see how specific viewpoints were given. There are only accounts from the French perspective given in the book.

I would recommend this book to anyone with an enthusiasm for history. It covers so many aspects and so many time periods that there’s something for everyone. Personally, I like to read novels that fictionalize history. Although it was heavy on the history, I enjoyed the way champagne was linked to so many significant events and how the historical figures were personalized.