The Champagne Queen (The Century Trilogy Book 2)
Page 45
Isabelle opened her eyes. “Daniel!”
He looked at her inquiringly, but Isabelle said nothing more. Instead, she smiled, and in her smile was all the love, sincerity, and devotion she was capable of.
Their lips found their way together, hungrily, while Marguerite reached out for the sun with her little hands.
Lucille, standing beside Claude and watching the small scene with him, asked in surprise, “Daniel and Madame Feininger? Did you know about that?”
“Know would be claiming too much, but I did suspect it,” said Claude happily. “And hoped for it!”
“Will I ever know what it means to be in love?” With a sigh, Lucille looked over toward the day laborers, who were taking the food Claude had brought out of the cart. One black-haired youth looked bashfully back.
Claude put his hand on the young woman’s shoulder. “Everything in life has its day. Love comes to those who believe in it.”
Notes
The research behind this book was unique, from my own trip to the Champagne region to my talks with the vintners and other experts to a number of exceptionally inspiring champagne tasting sessions—only rarely have I ever been able to experience so many sensory impressions. I also delved into a great deal of specialist literature. The book that helped me the most in all this was Champagne: The Wine, the Land and the People by Patrick Forbes. The first edition appeared in 1967, published by Victor Gollancz Ltd., although I worked with the sixth edition from 1983. It is a true classic, and I don’t believe there is anything comparable on the German market. I was so fascinated by Forbes’s masterful explanations of champagne production, its history, and the history of the vignerons of the region that I practically devoured his book, page after page, and not just once. It was so thrilling that as soon as I put his book down, all I wanted to do was take all my newfound knowledge and put it into this novel.
Making champagne is an astoundingly laborious business. Enumerating every individual step in the process would have been outside the scope of my story; instead, from all the individual processes, I selected those that fit well into the framework of the novel. This meant leaving out several steps and changing the chronology of some others in regard to the champagne and other aspects.
I’m happy to give a couple of examples of where I took such creative liberties—not only with the champagne-making process:
In earlier days, bottles of champagne tended to explode primarily in July and August. In Isabelle’s cellars, this happens in December.
The sausage delicacy known as andouillette is mainly served in the city of Troyes, in the southern part of the Champagne region. In my novel, this sausage is also eaten in Hautvillers. Poor Isabelle!
Once or twice, I have played with the geography. Charleville, for example, is a long way from Hautvillers, but Isabelle has to get someone to harvest her grapes, after all!
The first champagne to use the Dom Pérignon name was the 1921 vintage, which was first sold in 1936, but I could hardly leave such a famous name out of my champagne novel.
A word about the famous widows of Champagne.
The region has always been characterized by the vigor, courage, and ingenuity of the Champagne widows—the veuves. In an era in which only men normally had any say, the veuves were responsible not only for an army of employees and their families, but also contributed decisively to the international renown of the famous drink.
Who hasn’t heard of Madame Clicquot, the veuve Lily Bollinger, or the widow Louise Pommery? Other famous widows were Camille Olry-Roederer and Mathilde Laurent-Perrier. Behind many of the best known champagne names stands not only an exciting woman, but also an equally dramatic history.
After the death of Francois Clicquot in 1805, Barbe Nicole Clicquot took over the leadership of the family champagne business. The young woman, with a daughter of her own, had no idea at all about the business side of the operation, but she quickly acquainted herself with all the relevant issues and became a spirited businesswoman. In economically difficult times, she succeeded in making the Clicquot champagne house flourish. Thanks to her hard work and skill, Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin was soon served at every aristocratic table in Europe.
Louise Pommery was the mother of two children, Louis and Louise, when she became a widow in 1858 and assumed control of the Pommery cellars. She was one of the first who dared produce a dry champagne, and she did so at a time when sweet champagnes had been the fashion for decades. Under her leadership, Pommery became one of the leading champagne brands and remains so to this day.
Lily Bollinger also became world famous. In 1941, in the middle of the Second World War, she took over the operations of the Bollinger champagne house—at a time when people had far more on their minds than drinking champagne. And yet, over the years, she managed to double Bollinger’s champagne production. The house of Bollinger continues to be one of the great names in the industry today.
I have written Isabelle’s story as a homage to the great women of Champagne. Like them, Isabelle is unique, even if not as real.
For anyone who now has a taste for more champagne stories, I recommend taking a look at my website at www.durst-benning.de. You will find more gossip about champagne, some wonderful recipes, and my travel diary, which includes all the settings in which the novel takes place.
Acknowledgments
I owe a debt of gratitude to the outstanding German sommelier Natalie Lumpp, who put me in touch with a great many experts and who also took the trouble to proofread my novel. Any errors that still exist in these pages are mine alone.
My thanks also go to Alexandra Durin-Hepke from the Berlin champagne dealership Champagne&Compagnie. Without her advice, our trip to Champagne would certainly have been less fruitful. Alexandra was born in Reims, the capital of the region, and in the champagne field, she is an expert par excellence.
Perhaps you’re curious to know what becomes of Clara? Book 3 of my Century Trilogy will be appearing soon.
I wish you hours of reading pleasure.
About the Author
Photo © Privat
Petra Durst-Benning is one of Germany’s most successful and prominent authors. For more than fifteen years, her historical novels have been inviting readers to go adventuring with courageous female characters and experience their emotions for themselves. Her books and their television adaptations have enjoyed great international success. Petra Durst-Benning lives with her husband in Stuttgart.
About the Translator
Photo © 2012 Ronald Biallas
Australian-born and widely traveled, Edwin Miles has been working as a translator for fifteen years.
After studying in his hometown of Perth, Western Australia, Edwin completed an MFA in fiction writing at the University of Oregon in 1995. While there, he spent a year working as a fiction editor on the literary magazine Northwest Review. In 1996, he was shortlisted for the prestigious Australian/Vogel Award for young writers for a collection of short stories.
After many years living and working in Australia, Japan, and the United States, he currently resides in Cologne, Germany, with his wife, Dagmar, and two very clever children.