Wine and Food, of course. What about Wine & War?
I made a nice discovery while ago. A friend of mine from Chicago, who is very passionate and knowledgeable, recommended me this fabulous piece of history.
I don’t need to tell you I am passionate of wine–LOL. However, I can let you know that I am equally passionate about history, especially, the period that includes World War II. I have seen and read a lot about it. However, this was the first time I was able to learn how people saved one of the greatest treasures the French people had (still have) during the war.
Thanks to millions of people, the wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne and, of course, the South of France have been saved!!! Wine & War is a beautiful book, very pleasant to read and full of anecdotes. Let me tell you one:
“The famous and prestigious restaurant La Tour d’Argent in Paris is home to one of the greatest wine cellars in the world before World War II. As soon as the Germans started to move to France, Andre Terrail (owner), his son and a few friends decided to do something in order to save his cellar. But how can you do it when you have more than 100,000 bottles of the most prestigious wines in your cellar? Move everything? No time for that, Germans were too close (6 hours from Paris). They decided to select the best 20,000 wines! Andre could not imagine losing everything after all these years building his cellar. After having selected their very best wines they…. they walled it in and let them rest. A Few hours later, Paris was occupied. Then one month later on June 14th 1939, Field Marshal Hermann Goring did a stop at la Tour d’Argent, visited the cellar and of course took all the 80,000 bottles.”
For the other anecdotes you will need to get the book ;) It will make a beautiful present for Christmas!!!!
Have a good reading!