After France surrendered to Germany in June 1940, the Nazis moved quickly, cutting the country in half, with Northern France, the occupied zone, and Southern France, the free zone. The Champagne region was deep within the occupied zone and placed under the charge of a special corps of officers, or what the French called the weinführers, many of whom had direct connections with the wine trade prior to the war.

Originally, the Champenois thought this was a positive turn of events. In fact, one of the producers in Champagne was even quoted as saying after the war, “If you were going to shoved around, it was better to be shoved around by a winemaker than a beer-drinking Nazi lout.”

Unfortunately, this proved untrue. Under strict orders from Berlin, the Champenois were expected to supply nearly 400,000 bottles of champagne a week and at a fraction of its worth. Adding insult to injury, they were only allowed to sell their product to the German army or German-owned businesses. Once again, at a ridiculously low price.

And so began a large resistance movement that included switching labels, filling bottles with water, hiding the most valuable blends behind fake walls, and other dangerous acts of sabotage. My upcoming release, The Widows of Champagne, opens with one of these fearless acts. Interested in seeing how I portrayed these heroic acts. The book is up for preorder now.
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