Shadows in the Vineyard: The True Story of the Plot to Poison the World's Greatest Wine (30 page)

It was the sort of light that left you with no choice but to have faith, to believe.

When I opened my eyes, I found that I had welled up.

I thought of my wife. I thought of my children, my
enfants
.

I wanted to hold them and tell them that life is good; that no matter what evil there may be in the world, there is Burgundy, there is wine, there is light, there is love.

I thought about the vines in Burgundy. Soon, the first buds of spring would open into the next harvest. The Grand Monsieur would wade through the vines as he had done for the previous four decades, studying the pastoral splendor around him, looking for the clues in nature’s mystery, knowing that everything and nothing was unfolding around him.

The berries would ripen. Another vintage would be born. Once again, there would be a sense that anything was possible.

This much, though, was certain: Regardless of whatever challenges were in store, natural and otherwise, the Domaine will always be the Domaine.

This book began with a magazine story I wrote for
Vanity Fair
. I am grateful to
VF
’s editor in chief, Graydon Carter, and to my story editor there, Dana Brown, for accepting that pitch and for their many years of encouragement and support.

The first I’d ever heard of the crime against the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti was from longtime friends Bryan Ignozzi and Terin Amoroso Ignozzi. During a visit to their award-winning winery, BryTer Estates, in Napa, California, Bryan said to me, “I think I’ve got a story idea for you.” Voilà!

By the time I began reporting the book, I’d spent nearly twenty years in magazine journalism, mostly editing and reporting stories about all sorts of depressing crimes, and I was beginning to lose faith in just about everything. I went to Burgundy to report on yet another crime, but what I discovered was the poetry of grace, unwavering tenderness, and humanity. This, as much as the
terroir
, is what flavors the wines of Burgundy. I am grateful to many Burgundians for their hospitality and assistance.

There would be no book without Aubert and Pamela de Villaine. At a DRC tasting in 2012, I was blissfully stunned by the Domaine’s 2009 Corton, a new addition to the Domaine’s wines. Aubert was at that event, but he was busy being the gracious host and I didn’t want to bother him. Later, I wrote to him that the wine
was so fantastic it made me want to get up and hug him. He wrote back, “You should have hugged me. The world could use more hugs.” The world could use more people like Aubert de Villaine.

I am grateful to the Grand Monsieur’s staff at the “farm” for tolerating me and my terrible beginner’s French, and for helping me harvest my fruit. I am particularly thankful to the charming “Dr. No,” Jean-Charles Cuvelier, and to Bertrand de Villaine. Detectives Laetitia Prignot and Emmanuel Pageault not only led me through the dense woods above the
côte
and showed me Jacques Soltys’s lair, they spent days walking me through their investigation.

It was not a pleasant experience for Martine Soltys to share with me the stories of her family, but she did. I am thankful for the many hours she talked with me. Those conversations would not have been possible without the assistance of her neighbors and friends, the Milesi family, proprietors of Champagne Guy Mea.

Becky Wasserman-Hone and Russell Hone and their family opened their home and hearts to me, as they do for so many newcomers to Burgundy. They helped me navigate the roads, personalities, and culture of the Côte d’Or.

Louis-Michel Liger-Belair is far more than a “character.” A patient and candid source, he provided critical context and excellent perspective, and his lovely wife, Constance, was a benevolent landlord. Burgundy is fortunate to have the “General” as one of its premier ambassadors.

My interviews with Lalou Bizc-Leroy, François and Erwan Faiveley, and Domaine de Vogüé’s senior team of François Millet and Jean-Luc Pepin were critical. Vigneron and bon vivant Pascal Marchand informed what I wrote. And Domaine A&P’s Pierre de Benoist was extraordinarily helpful and gracious. Jack Daniels spent hours fielding my questions.

During a harvest, I met Antoine Lecompte, who ended up proving to be just about the most capable and dedicated research assistant and translator I could have hoped for. Friend and translator Dawn Erickson was brilliant all the while.

Chris Outcalt, Luc Hatlestad, Michael Hainey, Kristen O’Neill, Roxane White, Josh Hanfling, and Christopher and Gretchen Connelly read drafts and patiently listened to me go on and on about this project. I leaned often on Brett Garfield and Jefferson Panis.

Christopher McDougall, Ben Wallace, and Bill Gifford, longtime pals and stellar authors, were willing to think out loud with me and persuade me that I could finish what I’d uncorked.

Amanda Faison joined me for a critical reporting trip to Burgundy. Because of her presence, I dodged a herd of wild boars and witnessed one of the most brilliant sunsets I have ever seen. Along the way, she just might have saved me from myself.

When I began I researching this book I was also reporting a magazine piece about Colorado governor John Hickenlooper’s first year on the job. For the better part of a year I traveled between France and Colorado; I spent half of my life in Burgundy and half in Denver at the state capitol, embedded with the Hickenlooper administration. While they are wildly different cultures, to say the least, the Hickenlooper administration shared something in common with the Burgundians: Like the vignerons of the Côte d’Or, Hickenlooper and his staff weathered the elements and labored to produce something that would enrich the lives of others and live beyond their time. I had never expected to find the sacrifice and dedication that I found in Burgundy, and I certainly never expected to find that sort of thing in politics. But there they were: Burgundians vinifying wine from grapes, and the Hickenlooper bunch pressing politics into
public service. I was so impressed that I went to work as a media adviser to John Hickenlooper. I am honored to call him a friend and I will forever be grateful to him and to his senior team, now my colleagues, for their patience and support: Alan Salazar, Eric Brown, Kevin Patterson, and Roxane White.

AJ, Charlie, and Sally Fairbanks of Hyde de Villaine winery made me feel at home during research in California.

Master sommelier and one of Boulder, Colorado’s most knowledgeable wine merchants, Brett Zimmerman, along with Max Marriott, the regisseur/vigneron for Chapter 24 in Oregon, read my manuscript and did their very best to help me avoid errors on matters of wine.

Professor John D. Woodbridge, a historian who is as relentless as any investigative journalist I have known, is an expert on the Prince de Conti’s covert activities. He patiently fielded my questions and helped me animate his own masterful research. I should note that there is no record of how and when exactly the Prince de Conti traveled to his treasonous meetings on the banks of the Seine. After speaking with Woodbridge, however, and reading his exhaustive research on the subject and applying common sense, I felt it was reasonable to conclude that the prince would have traveled by carriage, at night.

Helen Grall-Johnson, a lecturer in the French Department at the University of Denver, translated mountains of French police documents and history books.

The Denver Art Museum’s exhibit on French Impressionists provided inspiration just when I needed it most.

Wine luminaries John Kapon, Allen Meadows, and Jasper Morris allowed me to tag along and answered many of my elementary questions.

My agent team of Larry Weissman and Sascha Alper made
this first book of mine happen. In other words, they helped me realize a dream.

The best editors I’ve ever had the good fortune of working with not only have great counsel when it comes to what’s on the page, but more than that, they are good human beings with a great bedside manner. Sean Desmond, my editor at Twelve, quite literally helped keep me sane; he bought me time, and when I needed it most, he understood.

My parents, Allen and Eleanor, and my brother, Michael, and my aunt Patricia McGrath, as always, were there.

My wife, Lori, and our two sons, Jack and True, are my
terroir
.

If I have made mistakes in presenting this story, I hope they do not distract from the magic of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Burgundy. My aim was to bottle the truths in such a way as to enthrall and inform, to give readers a context so that should they desire to drink a Burgundy wine they might more fully appreciate all of what is in their glass. Most of all, I aspired to produce a work that captures the essence of Burgundians, and to honor them and their sacred land.

I am deeply indebted to the work of many authors, but these books were invaluable source material: Professor John D. Woodbridge’s exhaustively researched
Revolt in Prerevolutionary France: The Prince de Conti’s Conspiracy Against Louis XV (1755–1757)
; George Gale’s
Dying on the Vine: How Phylloxera Transformed Wine
;
Romanée-Conti
by Richard Olney;
Madame de Pompadour: A Study in Temperament
by Marcelle Tinayre;
The Pearl of the Cote
by the ultimate Burghound, Allen Meadows;
Burgundy to Champagne: The Wine Trade in Early Modern France
by Thomas Brennan;
Terroir and the Winegrower
by Jacky Rigaux; Jean-Francois Bazin’s
La Romanée-Conti
(in French); and Gert Grum’s
Le Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
.

Award-winning journalist M
AXIMILLIAN
P
OTTER
is the senior media adviser for the governor of Colorado. He has been the executive editor of
5280: Denver’s Magazine
, and a staff writer with
Premiere
,
Philadelphia
, and
GQ
magazines. Potter has been a contributing editor to
Men’s Health/Best Life
and
Details
, and he has contributed to
Vanity Fair
. A fellow of the Knight Digital Media Center Multimedia Reporting and Convergence Program, Potter is a native of Philadelphia, with a BA from Allegheny College and an MSJ from Northwestern University’s Medill School. He lives in Denver with his wife and two sons.

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Copyright © 2014 Maximillian Potter

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First ebook edition: July 2014

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ISBN 978-1-4555-1608-7

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