In history of Champagne, steadfast optimism bubbles up
Sparkling wines move to center stage this time a year. After all, who doesn’t want to throw a log on the fire and raise a glass to people we love — or people we’ve lost?
Sadly, 2020 ends with far too many of the latter. But there’s something to be learned from the folks in Champagne, that celebrated and deservedly venerated vine-covered landscape southeast of Paris from where the world’s most iconic sparklers hail. This most celebratory of beverages has survived in spite of being caught, about a century ago, on the front lines of a vicious world war and in the cross-hairs of a history-altering revolution, never mind the last pandemic before the current one to wreak havoc on a global scale.
The Great War’s Western Front cut directly through the vineyards, destroying almost half of them and wrecking several of the famous Champagne houses while killing thousands, many of whom died trying to pick those prized grapes as bombs rained down upon them. Beginning in 1914, Reims would be pummeled for 1,051 consecutive days by the Germans, a merciless onslaught that reduced 90 percent of the city’s buildings to rubble, and the magnificent Gothic cathedral where French kings had been crowned since the time of Clovis was almost destroyed. The shell-shocked survivors? Most had to shelter for
months on end below ground, in the vast limestone caves carved out for bottle storage.
And those bottles were piling up because of military blockades and, simultaneously, the collapse of the Champenoise’ most lucrative market with the overthrowing of Russia’s imperial government in 1917. There would probably be more champagne stolen or “requisitioned” than got sold until the fighting stopped in November 1918.
Celebrations were muted, however, because the people were exhausted and death still lurked. The Spanish flu had begun its merciless advance, adding hugely to the awful death count across war-ravaged Europe. And, just as that pandemic began to fade away, the Champenoise suffered yet another gut punch: Prohibition. Yep, it became illegal to sell alcoholic beverages in the U.S. on Jan. 1, 1920.
Champagne had gained an important foothold in America because of the tireless promotional efforts of one Charles Heidsieck, or, as the Yanks came to call him, “Champagne Charlie.” The son of a no less flamboyant Champagne producer who had led Napoleon’s armies into
Russia riding a white stallion, Heidsieck founded his own house in 1851, at the age of 29. One year later, seeing vast potential in the wealthy young country, he sailed across the Atlantic, then glad-handed his way up and down the East Coast (also, of course, in New Orleans), establishing his brand while putting French bubbles front and center in the American consciousness.
He was selling 300,000 bottles a year in the States when the Civil War broke
out, which proved very bad for Champagne Charlie’s bottom line. The details are too complicated — and murky — to recount here, but, in short, after being defrauded by a major financial backer and subsequently arrested as a Confederate spy, he eventually made his way back to France a free man, albeit a very broke one.
But Heidsieck was only down, not out. As it happened, the brother of the scoundrel who had bilked him made amends by
handing over property deeds to about a third of the land that modern-day Denver sits on. Several parcels had silver beneath them. He died both very rich and very famous.
About the time Heidsieck fortunes reversed for the good, all of Paris was also in a festive mood because of the International Exposition of 1867, one of the first great international fairs. Although the Roederer family’s tête de cuvée didn’t yet carry the name “Cristal,” it’s believed to have been first served during same, at a 16-course, 8-hour-long “emperor’s” dinner at the Café Anglais paid for, ironically, by King Wilhelm of Prussia.
Also attending were Napoleon III and Czar Alexander II. The latter had already acquired a taste for the best champagnes and would become the Roederers’ wealthiest, most prominent customer. Cristal was officially branded in 1876 — not so long after Wilhelm’s armies had brought France to its knees in the Franco-Prussian War — for the czar’s personal consumption. Millions of bottles of champagne from most of the famous houses we know today would annually make their way to Russia’s elites until the Bolsheviks put at least a temporary kibosh on that party.
Worse, the revolution cost France a valuable ally late in World War I, allowing the Germans to bring even more firepower to the front. This after their initial assault in early September 1914, just as the harvest was getting underway, saw seven German armies totaling 1.5 million men, the largest military force yet assembled in human history, heading for Paris via Reims, having already cut a swath of carnage through Belgium and Luxembourg. But, despite multiple early setbacks, the French front held and a dreadful war of attrition began, with the infamous trenches wending their way through some of Champagne’s finest vineyards.
Through four grim years, the bubbles somehow kept making their way into bottles. Although the war-year wines grew progressively worse, understandably, each successive vintage represented another triumph of the human spirit and should be remembered as a source of inspiration and of hope during our own trying times. No question, we’ve had our share of challenges — and, for far too many, heartache — over the past nine months, but, by comparison … Well, there is none. That we’re able to drink champagne in 2020, after what Champagne has endured, should be sufficient inspiration for all of us to hang tough. We’ll beat COVID-19, and then we can start popping corks with joy and relief.
As Napoleon famously said — and Winston Churchill repeated during the next, even more horrific World War — “In victory, we deserve it. In defeat, we need it.” Right now, we need it. But, if we’re smart, we’ll end up deserving it.