Free Shadows in the Vineyard: The True Story of the Plot to Poison the World's Greatest Wine by Maximillian Potter Page A

aging vine that historically had been reliably robust would be pulled down, buried under the soil, such that its shoots would push through the earth and grow into new vines. There could be no doubt that Aubert was a shoot of Edmond’s stock.
    That was true especially since Aubert’s father had been absentfor the boy’s first six years. By the time Aubert had been born, Henri was already off at war. Through Aubert’s early years, his father was someone he had heard stories about, as a soldier, then as a prisoner of war, a mythical character to whom his mother wrote letters. During that time, Little Aubert and his grandfather developed an intense bond. They now could read one another.
    That morning as they walked together into the vineyards, Aubert could tell that there was a briskness in his
grand-père
’s step. There was an uncharacteristic anxiousness in his grandfather’s manner. Aubert had observed enough over the years to know that there had been much happening at the Domaine to make his grandfather anxious.

    Although little Aubert did his best to tune out the adult conversations about the vines, it was impossible to remain oblivious to Edmond’s troubles with the Domaine. Little Aubert didn’t understand all of what had been going on. What he picked up were facts and events without complete context—and as far as he was concerned, without any connection whatsoever to him.
    When World War I began in the summer of 1914, Burgundy had been preparing for harvest. As it mobilized for war, the French government did its best to accommodate wineries, allowing vignerons to delay reporting for duty until after the grapes were picked. Wineries were even allowed to keep their horses until the work was complete. The government needed horses like Coquette to pull cannons and ammunition instead of plows and carts filled with picked fruit. Many of the men who went off to defend France came home injured; there was a shortage of vineyard labor and the vines suffered. That had made Edmond and Monsieur Clin’s work at the Domaine all the more challenging.
    After that first war the Americans got the idea that drinking alcohol was bad for them and fell into the Great Depression. Wine did not sell. What did sell did not bring much profit. Barrels were stacked in cellars until the next vintage, and then the existing barrels were dumped to make room for more wonderful worthless wine. Wine and money were poured down drains.
    The year Aubert was born, 1939, World War II started. Aubert’s papa, Henri, went off to fight. The Germans captured his unit and put them in a prison. For a time, Germans occupied his grandfather’s home, a farm in Moulins.
    During that second war, his grandfather’s partner in the Domaine, Jacques Chambon, decided he had had enough of losing money on Romanée-Conti and wanted to sell his half of the Domaine.
    Edmond was afraid that like so many other families, they would have to sell off chunks of their vineyards, and for next to nothing. For a time it appeared that the prominent Burgundian family the Drouhins might buy out Jacques Chambon. This pleased Edmond. Maurice Drouhin was the Domaine’s largest distributor. Aubert’s grandfather and Drouhin got along well. They believed in the supremacy of Burgundy and in sparing no cost to take good care of the vines and produce excellent wines.
    Drouhin had long dreamed of owning a piece of Romanée-Conti. However, like Aubert’s father, Drouhin was also in a German POW camp. When his wife wrote to inform him there was an opportunity to buy half of the Domaine, Drouhin ultimately told her that with everything made uncertain by the war, they could not risk going into debt for the sake of the purchase.
    In 1942 a meeting took place at the Domaine. Most of Aubert’s aunts and uncles attended. Because Henri could notattend, Aubert’s mother traveled through checkpoints of war-ravaged France to attend and represent his interest. Her views were her husband’s views.