1. Times of
Lord Recruitment
The Secret Origins of the Bloody Mary
From Prohibition, Paris, and something called a “Bucket of Blood,” to
Hemingway, and your hangover
When you think of the few “classic” cocktails that bartenders even
know how to make anymore, none has a more storied past than the
Bloody Mary, this year celebrating its 80th birthday. In fact, if it
weren’t for the 18th Amendment and the Russian Revolution there
would be no Bloody Mary.
While its original name and recipe may be disputed, its birthplace is
not—except by one man, Colin Field of the Hemingway Bar at The
Ritz Hotel in Paris, who happens to be the world’s best bartender but
who refuses to believe the Bloody Mary originated around the corner at
Harry’s New York Bar at 5 Rue Danou.
Harry’s (which is in no way associated with Harry’s Bar in Venice)
opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1911 by Harry MacElhone after an
American jockey had a New York bar dismantled and shipped to Par-
is. This novelty of a New York-style bar became such a welcoming
destination for liquor-starved Americans during Prohibition that they
learned to tell the Parisian taxi drivers “Sank Roo Doe Noo!”—Which
for a long time now has been painted on the bar’s window.
Around 1920, émigrés escaping the Russian Revolution began arriving
in Paris, bringing with them vodka and caviar, so Harry’s bartender,
Ferdinand “Pete” Petiot, began experimenting with the new spirit,
which he found tasteless. At the same time Petiot was introduced to
American canned tomato juice, which back in t he dry days of Prohibi-
tion was called a “tomato juice cocktail” on menus.
History of Champagne
A bottle of Champagne being used to christened the USS Shangri-La
(CV-38) in 1944. Champagne has had a long history of being used in
celebration of events such as the launching of ships.
The history of Champagne has seen the wine evolve from being a pale,
pinkish still wine to the sparkling wine now associated with the region.
The Romans were the first to plant vineyards in this area of northeast
France, with the region being cultivated by at least the 5th century, pos-
sibly earlier. When Hugh Capet was crowned King of France in 987
at the cathedral of Reims, located in the heart of the region, he started
a tradition that brought successive monarchs to the region—with the
local wine being on prominent display at the coronation banquets. The
early wine of the Champagne region was a pale, pinkish wine made
from Pinot noir.
The Champenois were envious of the reputation of the
wines made from their Burgundianneighbours to the south and sought
to produce wines of equal acclaim. However the northerly climate of
the region gave the Champenois a unique set of challenges in mak-
ing red wine. At the far extremes of sustainable viticulture, the grapes
would struggle to ripen fully and often would have bracing levels of
acidity and low sugar levels. The wines were lighter bodied and thinner
than the Burgundies.
Furthermore, the cold winter temperatures prematurely
halted fermentation in the cellars, leaving dormant yeast cells that
would awaken in the warmth of spring and start fermenting again. One
of the byproducts of fermentation is the release of carbon dioxide gas,
which, if the wine is bottled, is trapped inside the wine, causing intense
pressure. The pressure inside the weak, early French wine bottles often
caused the bottles to explode, creating havoc in the cellars.
If the bottle survived, the wine was found to contain
bubbles, something that the early Champenois were horrified to see,
considering it a fault. As late as the 17th century, Champenois wine
makers, most notably the Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon (1638–
1715), were still trying to rid their wines of the bubbles.
While the Champenois and their French clients preferred their Cham-
pagne to be pale and still, the British were developing a taste for the
unique bubbly wine. The sparkling version of Champagne continued
to grow in popularity, especially among the wealthy and royal. Follow-
ing the death of Louis XIV of France in 1715, the court of Philippe II,
Duke of Orléans made the sparkling version of Champagne a favorite
among the French nobility. More Champenois wine makers attempted
to make their wines sparkle deliberately, but didn’t know enough about
how to control the process or how to make wine bottles strong enough
to withstand the pressure.
In the 19th century these obstacles were overcome, and
the modern Champagne wine industry took form. Advances by the
house of VeuveClicquot in the development of the méthodechampe-
noise made production of sparkling wine on a large scale profitable, and
this period saw the founding of many of today’s famous Champagne
houses, including Krug (1843), Pommery (1858) and Bollinger (1829).
The fortunes of the Champenois and the popularity of Champagne grew
until a series of setbacks in the early 20th century. Phylloxera appeared,
vineyard growers rioted in 1910–11, the Russian and American markets
were lost because of the Russian Revolution and Prohibition, and two
World Wars made the vineyards of Champagne a battlefield.
The modern era, however, has seen a resurgence of the popularity of
Champagne, a wine associated with both luxury and celebration, with
sales quadrupling since 1950. Today the region’s 86,500 acres (35,000
ha) produces over 200 million bottles of Champagne with worldwide
demand prompting the French authorities to look into expanding the
region’s Appellation d’originecontrôlée (AOC) zone to facilitate more
production.
Early history
The Romans were the first known inhabitants to plant vineyards in
the Champagne region. The name Champagne comes from the Latin-
campania and referred to the similarities between the rolling hills of
the province and the Italian countryside of Campania located south
of Rome. The area was divided into the Champagne pouilleuse—the
chalky, barren plains east of Reims—and Champagne viticole, the for-
ested hillside region known as the Montagne de Reims between Reims
and the Marne river where the vines were planted. While vineyards
were undoubtedly planted earlier, the first recorded vineyard belonged
to St. Remi in the 5th century.
For most of the region’s early history, the wines from
Champagne were not known as “Champagne” or even VIN de Cham-
pagne. Rather they were known as vins de Reims and vins de la rivère
in reference to the Marne river, which provided a vital trade route via
the Seine with Paris. Champagne’s location at the crossroads of two
major trading routes, one east–west between Paris and the Rhineland
and the other north–south between Flanders and Switzerland, would
bring the region and its wines much prosperity and notoriety but would
also play a pivotal role in Champagne being the site of countless battles
and occupations.
The coronation of Hugh Capet in Reims started a tradition that would
associate the region, and its wines, with royalty.
In 987, Hugh Capet was crowned King of France at the cathedral Re-
ims. At the coronation banquet, the local wines of the regions were
served. The city became known as the spiritual capital of France and
for the next eight centuries, monarchs would follow the tradition of
Capet and hold their coronations in Reims.[1] The association of the
region with royalty did much to further the reputation of the region’s
wine. By the 16th century, the village of Ay, located south of Reims,
was widely acclaimed for the quality of its wine with King Francis I
proclaiming himself to be the “Roi d’Aÿ et de Gonesse”—King of the
lands where the country’s greatest wines and flour were produced. Such
was the reputation of the wines of Ay that they were known as the vins
de France, their quality representing the whole of the country rather
than just a region. Eventually the name of Ay became a shorthand ref-
erence to refer to all the wines of the Champagne region. (Much like
Bordeaux or Beaune is used today to refer to the wines of the Gironde
and Burgundy regions, respectively.)
During the Middle Ages, the wines of the Champagne
region were various shades of light red to pale pink as a bitter rivalry
developed between the Champenois and their Burgundian neighbors
to the south. The trade route that Flemish merchants used to get to the
Burgundy went right through Reims and the Champenois were eager to
entice their business with a “cheaper” alternative. Unfortunately the cli-
mate of the region made it difficult to produce red wines with the rich-
ness and color of the Burgundian wines, even though the Champenois
tried to “improve” their wines by blending in elderberries. Eventually
their attention moved to produce white wines in an attempt to distin-
guish themselves from their Burgundian rivals.
However, the white wine produced from white grapes
were found to have a dull flavor and quickly spoiled. The most sought
after wines were those “white wines” made from red wine grapes, such
as Pinot noir, which had more flavor, aromatics and longevity. Through-
out the 16th and early 17th century, Champenois winemakers tried to
produce the best “white” wine they could from red wines grapes though
the results were often not white at all but ranged from greyish color to a
shade of pink known as oeil de perdrix or partridge eye. It wasn’t until
a Benedictine monk named Dom Pierre Perignon from the Abbey of
Hautvillers perfected his techniques would the Champenois be able to
truly make white wine from red grapes.
Dom Pérignon
Even though he spent most of his career trying to rid his Champagne
of bubbles, Dom Pérignon’s pioneering techniques used to make white
wine from red wine grapes would influence the development of modern
sparkling Champagne.
Main article: Dom Pérignon (monk)
After being destroyed during the French Wars of Religion, the Bene-
dictine Abbey at Hautvillers was rebuilt and replanted its vineyards.
By 1661, the Abbey had 25 acres (10 ha) of vineyards but were also
receiving tithes in the form of grapes from nearby villages, including
the highly regarded vineyards of Ay and Avenay-Val-d’Or. The Abbot
commissioned the construction of a cellar and sought to hire a treasurer
and cellar master to help develop the Abbey’s growing winemaking op-
eration. In 1668, Pierre Perignon was appointed to the position.
Described by his predecessor, Dom Groussard, and
CanonGodinot as a perfectionist, Perignon worked diligently to im-
prove the viticultural practices of Abbey’s vineyards and the quality of
the wines. He was a strong advocate of using only Pinot noir grapes,
which he believed had the best flavor and potential quality. At the time,
the vineyards of the region were planted with a variety of grapes includ-
ing Pinot noir, Chasselas, Pinot blanc, Pinot gris, Pinot Meunier and
perhaps Chardonnay. Most important, in Dom Pérignon’s mind, was
that red grapes like Pinot noir were less likely to become “volatile” in
the spring and produce bubbles like the white grapes had a tendency
to.
The presence of bubbles in his wines was considered a
fault and Dom Pérignon set out to develop precise techniques to limit
the likelihood of this fault occurring.
Dom Pérignon was a staunch advocate of aggressive pruning, dictat-
ing that vines should grow no higher than 1 metre (3 ft.) and produce
small yields. Harvesting was to be done early in the morning, when
it was very cool, and every care was to be taken to keep the grapes
intact. Grapes that were bruised or broken were rejected. Mules and
donkeys were favored over horses to transport the grapes to the press
houses since they were less likely to get excited and possibly damage
the grapes. Dom Pérignon desired the grapes to be pressed as quickly
and efficiently as possible to minimize the possibility of the grapeskins
leaching into the juice. A distinction was made between the different
levels of pressings. The first press, done completely by the weight of the
grapes on top of each other produced the highest quality wine known
as the VIN de goutte. The second and third pressings, done with weight
being applied, produced wine of good but not exceptional quality. The
fourth and fifth pressings, the VIN de taille and vins de pressoir were
of darker colors and would not be used at all. In addition to adding
the pinkish/grey coloring, Dom Pérignon knew that the skins imparted
different flavoring and coarser textures than he wanted in his high qual-
ity wines. His emphasis on limiting skin contact helped the Abbey of
Hautvillers to produce truly white wine from red wine grapes.
Over a year’s time, Petiot made vodka drink after vodka drink until he
mixed it with the tomato juice and some seasonings, and, voilà!, a new
cocktail was born, called the Bucket of Blood, christened by visiting
American entertainer Roy Barton after a West Side Chicago nightclub
of the same name.
The drink was popularized by Americans, so in 1933, Vincent Astor
brought over Petiot to man the King Cole Bar at the St. Régis Hotel
in New York, famous for its 30-foot nursery rhyme mural by Max-
field Parrish. The drink caught on—particularly as a supposed cure for
hangovers—but under the less sanguine name “Red Snapper,” which
is what it’s still called at the just-restored King Cole Bar. (Originally, a
pint of black peppercorns was steeped in vodka for six weeks to create
a mixture called “liquid black pepper,” a dash of which gave the vodka
itself a real blast of flavor.)
Here is the current official recipe from the King Cole Bar, which sells
about 850 Red Snappers each month:
The Red Snapper Original Recipe:
• 1 oz. Stolichnaya vodka
• 2 oz. Tomato juice
• 1 dash lemon juice
• 2 dashes salt
• 2 dashes black pepper
• 2 dashes cayenne pepper
• 3 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
Garnish with a lemon wedge and celery stalk.
First Edition - Friday, 30th of September 2016 - Mauritius

2. English influences
While banished to England, the Marquis de Saint-Évremond did much
to popularize Champagne in London society. While Saint-Évremond
preferred his Champagne to be still, the sparkling version of Cham-
pagne soon became popular with the English.
As a wealthy and powerful nation with limited winemaking resourc-
es, the English have had a marked influence on the development of
sparkling Champagne. Non-sparkling Champagne became popular in
London society following the arrival of epicureanCharles de Saint-
Évremond in the mid 17th century. At parties and banquet, Saint-
Évremond feverishly promoted the wines of the Champagne region.
Soon some of the most powerful and fashionable men of London-such
as the Dukes of Bedford and Buckingham as well as the Earl of Ar-
lington were making regular ordes of cases of Champagne. The wine
was non-sparkling, or at least it was intended to be.Wine was often
transported to England in wooden wine barrels and merchant houses
would then bottle the wine for sale. During the 17th century, English
glass production used coal-fueled ovens and produced stronger, more
durable glass bottles than the wood-fired French glass. The English
also rediscovered the use of cork stoppers, once used by the Romans
but forgotten for centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
During the cold winters of the Champagne region, temperatures would
drop so low that the fermentation process was prematurely halted—
leaving some residual sugar and dormant yeast. When the wine was
shipped to and bottled in England, the fermentation process would
restart when the weather warmed and the cork-stoppered wine would
begin to build pressure from carbon dioxide gas. When the wine was
opened, it would be bubbly.
The English were one of the first who saw the tendency of Cham-
pagne to sparkle as a desirable trait, and tried to understand why it did
bubble. In 1662, the English scientist Christopher Merret presented
a paper detailing how the presence of sugar in a wine led to it even-
tually sparkling, and that nearly any wine could be made to sparkle
by adding sugar to a wine before bottling it. This is one of the first
known accounts of understanding the process of sparkling wine and
suggests that British merchants were producing “sparkling Cham-
pagne” even before the French Champenois were deliberately making
it.Concurrently, advances in glass manufacture in Britain, by George
Ravenscroft and others, allowed more robust wine bottle to be made
which could contain the effervescence without exploding.The popu-
larity of sparkling Champagne steadily grew. In 1663, the British poet
Samuel Butler penned the first written English reference to “brisk”
(i.e. frothy) Champagne in his poem Hudibras. The 1698 George Far-
quhar play Love and a Bottle featured one of the characters marveling
at the steady stream of bubbles in a glass of Champagne. As the popu-
larity of sparkling Champagne grew in London, other European courts
began to discover the bubbly curiosity including the French who had
previously despised the bubbles as a wine fault.
Growing popularity of sparkling Champagne
During his regency, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans helped popularize
sparkling Champagne among the French nobility.
Following the death of Louis XIV in 1715, his nephew Philippe II,
Duke of Orléans became the Regent of France. The Duke of Orléans
enjoyed the sparkling version of Champagne and featured it at his
nightly petitssoupers at the Palais-Royal. This sparked a craze in Paris
as restaurants and fashionable society sought to emulate the Duke’s
tastes for the bubbling wine. Champenois winemakers began to switch
their business from making still wines to sparkling in order to capi-
talize on this craze.Throughout the 18th century, Champagne houses
opened up-creating a new business dynamic in the Champagne region.
Rather than single estate growers or monasteries producing the ma-
jority of wine, private houses or merchants who bought grapes from
vineyard owners to make Champagne came to dominate. The houses
of Moët &Chandon, Louis Roederer, Piper-Heidsieck and Taittinger
were some of the major houses that were founded during this period.
Each house hired sales agents to bring samples of their wine to royal
courts across Europe as they competed with each other for shares of
the growing Champagne market.
However, by the end of the 18th century non-sparkling pinkish wine
production still accounted for over 90% of the Champagne region’s
production. The French Revolution and following Napoleonic wars
temporarily derailed the popularity surge for Champagne. To save
some of their noble clients from the guillotine, Champagnes mer-
chants altered business records by replacing the titles of their clients
with “Citizen”. As many nobles fled to other countries, the merchants
did their best to make sure cases of their favorite Champagne fol-
lowed. During the Napoleonic wars, Europeans ports were subject
to an endless stream of blockading and counter-blockading. Sales
agents like Louis Bohne of VeuveClicquot devised creative schemes
to smuggle their wines to their clients. The agents even tried to turn
both victory and defeat into sales opportunities. During Napoleon’s
invasion of Russia, Charles-Henri Heidsieck traveled by horseback
ahead of the French Imperial Army on their way to Moscow. Armed
with cases of Champagne, Heidsieck was prepared to do business with
whoever was the victor. After the defeat of Napoleon, the Champagne
region itself was occupied by Russian forces. During the occupation,
Champagne was used as requisition and tribute. As her cellar was be-
ing emptied of her wine, the Widow Cliquot is reported to have said,
“Today they drink. Tomorrow they will pay”.Her words would be
prophetic because for the next century, until the Russian Revolution
of 1917, the Russian empire would be the second largest consumer of
Champagne in the world.
Development of the modern Champagne industry
The roots of the modern Champagne industry were laid during the In-
dustrial Revolution, which saw vast leaps in understanding the method
of making sparkling wine and improvements in the technology needed
to make production more financially feasible. The French scientist
Jean-Antoine Chaptal popularized the understanding that Champagne
sparkled because it was sealed in a bottle before fermentation was
complete. He further noted that it was the sugar in the wine that fa-
cilitated this fermentation process resulting in bubbles. Along with the
bubbles came intense pressure from the carbon dioxide gas that could
result in the bottles exploding.[1] The disturbance caused by one bot-
tle’s disintegration could cause a chain reaction, with it being routine
for cellars to lose 20–90% of their bottles to instability.The British
method of coal fired glassmaking contributed to stronger wine bottles
being available that could withstand the pressure of the carbon dioxide
gas better. In the 1830s, a pharmacist from Châlons-sur-Marne named
André François outlined formulas with precise measurements of how
much sugar is needed to make a wine sparkle without producing more
pressure than the wine bottle could withstand. Corking machines and
improved corks made sealing the wine easier with less opportunity for
the precious gas to seep out of the bottle.
The development of riddling as a means of removing sediment from
Champagne without losing
much gas was a significant
advancement in improving
the quality of Champagne
production.
An important advance
made in the early 19th
century was developing a
technique to remove the
sediment caused by dead
yeast after the secondary
fermentation. Early Cham-
pagne producers chose not
to remove the sediment,
which left the wine cloudy
and prone to off flavors if
the sediment was shaken
up or poured into the glass.
At royal courts and ban-
quets, servers would pour
new serving of Champagne into a fresh glass to avoid the residue of
sediment left over in the previous glass. To remove the sediments,
some producers would decant the wine by pouring it a new bottle.
However this process caused a considerable amount of carbon diox-
ide gas to escape and the resulting wine was noticeably less bubbly.
With the aid of her cellar master, Madame Clicquot of the Cham-
pagne house VeuveCliquot developed the process of riddling in the
early 19th century to solve the problem of sediments without losing
much gas. This technique, which involves collecting the sediment in
the neck of the bottle and using the pressure of the wine to eject just
the sediment, led to the popularity of adding sugar-sweet dosage to
replace the wine lost during riddling. The Russians, in particular, were
fans of very sweet Champagne and VeuveCliquot was able to tailor
the sweetness level of their wines for their customers by the composi-
tion of their dosage. At first the house of VeuveCliquot tried to keep
this technique of riddling a secret but by the late 1820s the secret was
out and Champagne houses were settling up production lines for rid-
dling. In 1854, the French national railroad system linked Reims with
the rest of the country, including its coastal ports. From that point on,
Champagne was connected to its worldwide market and sales grew
by leaps and bounds. During the 1850s production was averaging 20
million bottles a year.
From sweet to brut
Throughout most of the 19th century Champagne was made sweet. The
taste was pleasing to most wine drinkers and the added sugar helped
winemakers to cover up flaws in the wine or poor quality from less de-
sirable grapes. Champagne houses would use the dosage to tailor the
sweetness to whatever style was in fashion in a particular market. The
Russians preferred the sweetest level with as much as 250–330 grams
of sugar added. Scandinavia was next at around 200 grams followed
by France at 165 grams, Germany with slightly more, and the United
States preferring between 110–165 grams. The English preferred the
driest style at 22–66 grams of sugar.Gradually tastes developed to fa-
vor less sweetness and higher overall quality in the Champagne. The
first slightly dry Champagne to emerge was labeleddemi-sec or “half
dry”. The success of those wines prompted the introduction of sec
or dry wines. Other producers made wines with even less sugar and
began to call these wines extra dry. In 1846, the Champagne house
Perrier-Jouët introduced a wine that was made without any added
sugar. This style was initially ill received with critics calling this wine
too severe, or brute-like. But over the next generation, this “brut” style
with significantly less sugar than wines labeled extra dry became the
fashion for Champagne and today is the modern style that the majority
of Champagne is made in.
For more details about sweetness terms, see Sweetness of wine §
Terms used to indicate sweetness of sparkling wine.
From the late 19th century to modern day
What constituted “Champagne” and where the grapes were grown was
a source of significant tension in the early 20th century when riots
broke out in villages like Damery(pictured).
By the end of the 19th century, Champagne was making its mark and
embedding itself into popular culture. The early 20th century brought
its share of challenges. Some of the seeds of these challenges were
planted during the century before when Champagne’s growing popu-
larity encouraged Champagne houses to look outside the Champagne
region for a cheaper supply of grapes.
The French railway system made it easy for truckloads of grapes from
the Loire Valley or Languedoc to be transported to Champagne at
prices nearly half of what the houses were paying Champenois vine
growers for their grapes. Newspapers published rumors of some hous-
es buying rhubarb from England to make wine from. With hardly any
laws in place to protect the vine grower or the consumer, Champagne
houses had most of the power in the region to profit off of these faux
Champagnes. To compound the misery for Champenois vine growers,
the last few vintages of the 19th century were difficult with frost and
a rain severely reducing the crop yields. The phylloxera epidemic that
ravaged vineyards across France was finally making its way to Cham-
pagne. The harvests between 1902 and 1909 were further troubled by
mold and mildew. The 1910 vintages was particularly troublesome
with hailstorms and flooding. Nearly 96% of the crop was lost.
In 1917 Russia, the October Revolution saw massive prohibition of
Champagne as an imported beverage. Based off Karl Marx’s com-
munist manifesto, a class system of beverages was instituted into
Russian life. Gone were the days of Champagne and imported luxury
beverages; in was the drink of the proletariat, Vodka. A drink for the
Russian populace, by the Russian populace without foreign interfer-
ence. “Даздравствуетнашарусскаяземля” or “Long live our Russian
Land” in English could be heard from beer hall to beer hall as victori-
ous party members celebrated the fall of the Tsars. These sanctions
were eventually eased during the 1970s with the de-stalinization ef-
forts of Nikita Kruschev’s successor government. Ultimately, Cham-
pagne saw its mass introduction back into the Russian beverage scene
with the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1991.
Collusion was practiced among various Champagne houses in order
to drive down the prices of grapes to as a low as they would go, with
the ever present threat that if the houses could not get their grapes
for cheap enough they would continue to source grapes from outside
the region. Champenois vineyard owners found themselves in a situ-
ation where they were being paid less for fewer grapes. Poverty was
widespread. In January 1911, frustrations reached their boiling point
as riots erupted in the towns of Damery and Hautvilliers. Champenois
vine growers intercepted trucks with grapes from the Loire Valley and
pushed them into the Marne River. They then descended upon the
warehouses of producers known to produce faux Champagne, tossing
more wine and barrels into the Marne. The French Government tried
to answer the vine growers’ concerns by passing legislation defining
where Champagne wine was to come from. This early legislation
dictated that the Marnedepartment and a few villages from the Aisne
department were the only areas approved to grow grapes for Cham-
pagne production. The glaring exclusion of the Aube region, where the
historic capital of Champagne—Troyes—is located, promoted further
discontent as the Aubois protested the decision. The Aube, located
south of the Marne, was closer to the Burgundy region in terms of soil
and location. The growers of the Marne viewed the region as “foreign”
and not capable of producing true Champagne but the Aubois viewed
themselves as Champenois and clung to their historical roots. The
government eventually reversed them and included the Aube-much to
the dismay of vine growers in the Marne who vigorously protested the
decision. More riots erupted and the region was on the brink of civil
war. As the government fumbled for an answer that would appease
both parties, World War I erupted and those issues had to be set aside
as the entire country braced itself for war.
During the bombardment of German artillery of World War I, many
Champenois took refuge in the underground caves used for Cham-
pagne storage. Despite the war, Champagne production continued in
these caves.
The strategic location of Champagne near the Western Front led to
Champagne wines crossing the lines into no man’s land. While several
Champagne houses and vineyards were abandoned, many Champenois
remained and took shelter in the underground crayères or limestone
caverns where Champagne is often aged, to escape the bombardment
from German artillery. The famous Reims Cathedral was virtually de-
stroyed by the Germans along with many other buildings in the region.
Vineyards became a wasteland of pits and bomb craters as several
battles and offensives were waged on the land. Still some Champenois
forged on in producing Champagne during the difficult vintages of
World War I (1914–1917). By the time the war ended the Champagne
region had lost over half its population with the Aisne region alone
losing nearly two thirds. Champagne production and warehouses were
completely destroyed, as were many vineyards.
The devastation of the war did bring a silver lining. In 1919, the
French government passed a series of laws that would lay the ground-
work for the Appellation d’originecontrôlée (AOC) system that would
strictly define winemaking laws and regional boundaries. Measures
were taken to eliminate fraud and illegal additives such as rhubarb
and apple juice. Only grapes grown from the delineated Champagne
region, which would eventually include the Aube, could be legally
called “Champagne”. The decimation of the region’s vineyards pro-
vided the opportunity for vine growers to replant with phylloxera re-
sistant rootstock and in more ideal locations for quality grape produc-
tion. But amidst this silver lining, more dark clouds would emerge as
the full effects of the Russian Revolution hit home and the lucrative
Russian market was closed to Champagne imports. The 1920 declara-
tion of prohibition in the United States closed off yet another market
and the global economic downturn of the Great Depression lead to
a further decrease in sales. World War II would bring more troops
marching through the vineyards of Champagne. While the devastation
brought to the region was not as severe as the previous war, World War
II was still a troubling time for the region. It was in Reims, on May 7,
1945 that the German military commander Alfred Jodl
Page 2 - Times of Lord Recruitment

3. offered an unconditional surrender to the Supreme Allied Com-
mander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower. The following morning, the
signing was celebrated with 6 cases of the 1934 vintage of Pommery.
Wine historians Don and PetieKladstrup noted that a World War II
historian would later comment, “the last explosions of the war were
the popping of Champagne corks”.
To the modern day
In modern times, Champagne has become more than just a wine but
also a brand that has seen many imitators.
Following World War II, the sales and popularity of Champagne
surged once more. Since 1950, sales have grown steadily, quadru-
pling in total to over 200 million bottles. The increase in worldwide
demand has prompted the French authorities to look into expanding
the region’s AOC zone to facilitate more production.
[1] There still exist the business dynamic between vine growers and
Champagne houses with majority of the region’s 19,000 growers
selling their grapes to the nearly 300 Champagne houses in produc-
tion. Over time Champagne has become not only a reflection of the
terroir of the Champagne region but also a brand in itself, with the
Champenois vigorously defending that brand and the uses of the term
“Champagne”.
The popularity and success of Champagne has in-
spired many imitators around the world (such as Cava in Spain, Sekt
in Germany and several American sparklers) but also within France
itself with sparkling Cremants. The name “Champagne” is a protected
designation of origin in the European Union and all wines produced
and sold in the EU must conform to those standards and not label a
wine as “Champagne” unless it comes from the Champagne AOC (in
the United States there is a legal loophole for semi-generic terms).
In 1985, use of the term méthodechampenoise was also outlawed
with producers of “champagne style” sparkling wine opting to uses
phrases like méthodetraditionnelle to signify that their wine is made
using the same production methods as Champagne.
The History of Caviar
The sturgeon fish’s roe is the only fish egg classified as caviar accord-
ing to the FDA. This fish has been around for 250 million years – yes,
that means that they were around when dinosaurs roamed the earth!
These types of fish are bottom dwellers. They are saltwater fish, but
go to freshwater to spawn. There are 24 major species that mainly live
in the Caspian Sea.
It has been said that as far back as 2400 B.C., the Egyp-
tians and Phoenicians had learned to salt and pickle the fish eggs to
make them last through war, famine or trips at sea. Up in Greece,
Aristotle wrote about the Greeks having lavish banquets that would
end up with trumpet fanfare announcing the arrival of huge platters of
fish eggs garnished with flowers.
Etymology
It has been said that the Turks first coined the word “khavyar”, others
argue that the word originates from the Persian word “chav-jar” which
translates loosely to “cake of power” or “piece of power”. Persians
would eat it medicinally, to give them energy and stamina.
In Europe, King Edward II proclaimed the sturgeon to be a royal fish,
and made every sturgeon caught in England belongs to the imperial
treasury. As known in pop culture today, caviar began to be enjoyed in
France as early as 1553.
Penns Grove, New Jersey
Beluga Caviar
Caviar faces shortages today as more and more environmental restric-
tions are placed on egg collection. While this may reduce quantity in
the short-term, over the long run this may help preserve the species,
and the eggs the species produces from their continued growth and
reproduction.
Only when caviar production become more abundant in the U.S. did
it really become a delicacy. There was also a major exportation issue
with fraud in the midst of the “caviar boom”. At one point, the caviar
shipped out was returned back fraudulently labeled “Russian Caviar”,
which at the time was considered more refined. Today, caviar produc-
tion has been taken over in the Persian Gulf and as of recently, Italy.
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