The Effects of War on Wine

In researching the history of wine in Croatia and Montenegro, I was struck by the impact that occupation and war had on the wine industry. Sometimes, these occupations would occur with relative ease (who could've guessed Napoleon/the French would've been pro-wine?) and other times they would lead to vineyards being burnt to the ground (such as under Communist rule). This lead me to look at the effects of World War II on the wine industry in Europe at large.

Given the importance of Italy and France to global wine production (not even taking into account otherwise the important producers of Germany or Spain), you might expect global production to have tanked in the period of 1940-1945. The truth is much more complicated. It turns out that even war cannot completely eliminate the desire for good wine. As Stefana Williams notes in Decanter magazine, "In 1942 alone, the Germans made a single purchase of one million bottles of the most expensive wine from [Bordeaux]."[1]

"Hurray!", you might be tempted to say. "Wine is the great equalizer! Not even war can stop the universal love of wine!" However, it must be noted that by this point, much of France had become occupied and "Weinführers" (meaning literally "Wine Leaders") had been established with the directive to guarantee production to Germany. [2] As a curious byproduct, the German love of wine and subsequent control of the wine industry developed into an unexpected source of intelligence intelligence. When the Germans were set to invade Egypt in 1941, the Allies were tipped off to such a move by an large order of Champagne being ordered to be shipped to "a very hot country." [2]  Maybe the Germans would have been better off burning Champagne to the ground. But, not even they could resist the allure of good wine.

Sources:
[1] "The War Years", Decanter https://www.decanter.com/features/the-war-years-249258/
[2] "Champagne during WW2: From Vines to Victory", Decanter https://www.decanter.com/features/champagne-during-ww2-from-vines-to-victory-245881/