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CREDITS :::Produced by ?
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::: TRANSMISSION DETAILS :::
Blah blah blah, yackity smackity blah blah blah. Blah blah blah, yackity smackity blah blah blah. Blah blah blah, yackity smackity blah blah blah.
Running time: ?
::: SYNOPSIS :::
'We're not just fighting for France, we're fighting for Champagne!'
Behind Churchill's defiant war cry lay a lifelong love affair of the bubbly. And this is the untold story of how the France's greatest champagne houses struggled for survival during World War 2 to ensure an unending flow of world's most exclusive drink for today's thirsty aficionados.
The film will reveal the crucial role played by the WEINFUHRERS, the German wine traders thrust into uniform by their masters to take control of France's biggest industry. We will reveal how the Nazis looted 2 million bottles of bubbly within 2 weeks of occupying France, how champagne shipments became great intelligence weapons and how the 24 kilometres of Moet & Chandon tunnels were used by the Resistance for refuge and weapons storage.
In
a fitting climax to the film we will discover how Bernard De Nonancourt,
Champagne producer and Resistance member charged with recovering all the
French champagnes stolen by Hitler's troops, liberated Berchtesgaden, Hitler's
'eagles nest' at the end of the war.The fate of the Champagne region depended on two men, Count Robert-Jean De Vogue, head of Moet & Chandon and his nemesis, local weinfuhrer Otto Klaebisch. The heart of this film will chart their turbulent relationship and reveal how Klaebisch never knew of De Vogue's dual role as leader of the local resistance.
In the early days of occupation, Moet & Chandon had been pillaged more than any other champagne house. The Chandon chateau on the grounds of Dom Perignon's abbey had been burned down and many other buildings belonging to Moet were taken over to house German troops. To add insult to injury, the company had also been ordered to supply the Third Reich with 50,000 bottles of champagne per week.
It was, therefore, with immense relief that the Champenois learned that German authorities were sending someone in to oversee Champagne purchases and, hopefully, end the looting. They were even more relieved when they found out who it would be: Otto Klaebisch of Matteus-Muller, a winemaking and importing firm from Germany's Rhineland. Otto's role as local weinfuhrer was simple; to buy as much champagne as cheaply as possible and to resell it internationally for a huge profit to pay for the Third Reich's War. If they were going to be shoved around, thought the Champenois, it was better to be shoved around by a winemaker.
Klaebisch began his "shoving" almost immediately. He wanted somewhere impressive to live and found what he wanted when he saw where Bertrand De Vogue, head of Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin, lived. An angry De Vogue and family were sent packing.
Klaebisch
was different from the other weinfuhrers. He enjoyed the trappings of military
life and almost always wore his uniform. He had retained his taste for the
finer things in life, especially great champagne and was also impressed
with titles. When he first met Count Robert-Jean De Vogue, Chairman of the
local producers Collective (CIVC) and the man with whom he would be negotiating
champagne purchases, he was deferential to the point of being obsequious.
Moet boss De Vogue was related to many of Europe's royal families and even
had connections with the Vatican. He also happened to be the brother of
Veuve Clicquot's Bertrand De Vogue whom Klaebisch had just kicked out of
his house. Klaebisch ran into problems as soon as he arrived. Aware that Berlin expected him to supply a certain amount of champagne per month, he made demands on De Vogue that risked killing off some of the great houses. Indeed Berlin's demands on Pol-Roger alone, Churchill's favourite tipple, was depleting their stocks and sending them to the brink of bankruptcy
TV
& FILM PRODUCTIONS
MotorMouth | Century Farm | Street Detectives | Front Line | Blind Vision
You Thought You Knew...The Plantation | Seven Days That Shook United | Lines of Fire
How Far Home | The Uncle Jack | The Kickhams | Saoirse | Heroes | Crossing | Puddy Cat
IN DEVELOPMENT
Champagne's Secret War | Colonel Blood - The Man Who Stole The Crown Jewels
Yoko Ono - Money Can't Buy Me Love | Rehearsal Room | Secret Celebrity
MotorMouth | Century Farm | Street Detectives | Front Line | Blind Vision
You Thought You Knew...The Plantation | Seven Days That Shook United | Lines of Fire
How Far Home | The Uncle Jack | The Kickhams | Saoirse | Heroes | Crossing | Puddy Cat
IN DEVELOPMENT
Champagne's Secret War | Colonel Blood - The Man Who Stole The Crown Jewels
Yoko Ono - Money Can't Buy Me Love | Rehearsal Room | Secret Celebrity
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