EPERNAY, France (AP) — Deep in the labyrinthine cellars of the Pol Roger champagne house, rows of century-old bottles caked in mold bear testimony to perhaps the greatest, and surely the most heroic of vintages. [...] somehow, the heady mix produced a vintage for the ages in which dedication beat fear. On Friday in London, Pol Roger will auction off one of those 1914 bottles — minus the mold — with the proceeds going to the recently renovated Imperial War Museum. Even the schools were closed, said Hubert de Billy, the great grandson of Maurice Pol-Roger, the wartime mayor of Epernay, which along with Reims is the heart of champagne production. In Reims, the Notre Dame cathedral, one of world's greatest Gothic treasures, was badly bombed in an act of cultural destruction that helped turn international opinion against Germany. School was held, mothers gave birth and some denizens use chalk to scrawl graffiti in endless subterranean corridors now owned by the Taittinger champagne house. "The soft chalk was ideal to express a strong emotion," company president Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger said of the scratches, some depicting pointed German helmets. Poet Alan Seeger, the uncle of folk singer Pete, has become a favorite subject for Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, who celebrates him with a plaque decorated with the verses at the family's chateau just outside Epernay.
Century Ago: Great War, Great Champagne Vintage
By RAF CASERT, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle: World
Wed, 10/22/2014 - 2:14am
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