Champagne: How the World's Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed Over War and Hard Times

It's been said that Champagne in northern France has been the site of more bloody battles, fiery incursions, and large-scale wars than any other place on earth. From the time of Attila the Hun to the Germans in World War II, countless invaders have tried to conquer this strife-torn land. Yet somehow it managed to become the birthplace of the world's most beloved wine.

In this engrossing and unforgettable history, authors Don and Petie Kladstrup show how this sparkling wine, born of bloodshed, became a symbol of glamour, good times, and celebration. It's a story filled with larger-than-life characters: Dom Pé rignon, the father of champagne, who, contrary to popular belief, worked his entire life to keep bubbles out of champagne; the Sun King, Louis XIV, who rarely drank anything else; and Napoleon, who, in trying to conquer the world, introduced it to champagne.

Compelling, dramatic, eye-opening, and utterly fascinating, Champagne will forever change how you look at a glass of bubbly.

Throughout history, waves of invaders have coveted the northeast corner of France: Attila the Hun in the fifth century, the English in the Hundred Years War, the Prussians in the nineteenth century. Yet this region – which historians say has suffered more battles and wars than any other place on earth – is also the birthplace of one thing the entire world equates with good times, friendship and celebration: champagne.

Champagne is the story of the world's favourite wine. It tells how a sparkling beverage that became the toast of society during the Belle Epoque emerged after World War I as a global icon of fine taste and good living. The book celebrates the gutsy, larger–than–life characters whose proud determination nurtured and preserved the land and its grapes throughout centuries of conflict.

It's been said that Champagne in northern France has been the site of more bloody battles, fiery incursions, and large-scale wars than any other place on earth. From the time of Attila the Hun to the Germans in World War II, countless invaders have tried to conquer this strife-torn land. Yet somehow it managed to become the birthplace of the world's most beloved wine.

In this engrossing and unforgettable history, authors Don and Petie Kladstrup show how this sparkling wine, born of bloodshed, became a symbol of glamour, good times, and celebration. It's a story filled with larger-than-life characters: Dom Pérignon, the father of champagne, who, contrary to popular belief, worked his entire life to keep bubbles out of champagne; the Sun King, Louis XIV, who rarely drank anything else; and Napoleon, who, in trying to conquer the world, introduced it to champagne.

Compelling, dramatic, eye-opening, and utterly fascinating, Champagne will forever change how you look at a glass of bubbly.

Don and Petie Kladstrup are former journalists who have written extensively about wine and France for numerous publications. Don, a winner of three Emmys and numerous other awards, was a foreign correspondent for ABC and CBS television news. Petie, an Overseas Press Club winner, was a newspaper journalist and more recently protocol officer for the U.S. ambassador to UNESCO. The Kladstrups divide their time between Paris and Normandy.