Shadows in the Vineyard Quotes

“There was another story that Henri shared, this one because there was a lesson it. The Germans gave very few rations, mostly in the form of ball-shaped loaves of bread. The bread was given out infrequently, every couple of days. Henri said that many of the younger men, when they received the bread, would ravenously eat it all at once. Immediately after, these young men would sit full and satisfied, but then in the coming days they would have nothing to eat. It was feast and then famine, physically and psychologically, because their stomachs were tied to their minds. Every time it was the same. It seemed these men had no memory and surrendered to their stomachs. On the other hand, the older, more disciplined men, when they received the bread, would eat only a very small amount and would ration the rest to themselves in the days when there was no bread handed out. They would never feel full, but they were never without something to eat. Little Aubert understood the moral: On the days that you have bread, be mindful there will be days when you will not have any.”
― Maximillian Potter, Shadows in the Vineyard: The True Story of the Plot to Poison the World's Greatest Wine

“After all whether boom or bust, it's a bullish market for booze.”
― Maximillian Potter, Shadows in the Vineyard: The True Story of the Plot to Poison the World's Greatest Wine

“In 1866, in order to market Burgundy as a tourist destination and promote its wines, political and business leaders decided to add the name of each village’s best vineyard to that name of the village itself. Chambolle became Chambolle-Musigny; Gevrey, Gevrey-Chambertin; Morey, Morey-St.-Denis; Puligny, Puligny-Montrachet; and so on. The tiny heart of all of Burgundy became Vosne-Romanée.”
― Maximillian Potter, Shadows in the Vineyard: The True Story of the Plot to Poison the World's Greatest Wine

“On just about any list of the world’s twenty-five top-rated wines, the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti regularly places seven: Richebourg, Échézeaux, Grands Échézeaux, La Tâche, Romanée-St.-Vivant, the Domaine’s only white grand cru, Montrachet, and the world’s very best wine, which is the winery’s namesake grand cru, Romanée-Conti. For its unparalleled and sustained excellence, the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is known by wine critics and serious oenophiles around the world and frequently referred to by its initials, or simply as the Domaine.”
― Maximillian Potter, Shadows in the Vineyard: The True Story of the Plot to Poison the World's Greatest Wine

“Terroir meaning the sum of the natural characteristics unique to each parcel or climat of vines: the amount of sunlight and rain an area receives, the pitch and composition of its earth, and, of course, the vines. Roots pull the energy from the earth below, while the leaves harness heaven’s sun and draw the rising sap. All of this together, the essence of terroir, the very essence of Burgundian winemaking. Although the French Impressionists did not think in such terms, what their very best paintings capture is the magic of terroir.”
― Maximillian Potter, Shadows in the Vineyard: The True Story of the Plot to Poison the World's Greatest Wine

“One must have only one master—nature,” Pissarro had said. Renoir had put it this way: “You come to nature with your theories and she knocks them all flat.” And Monet—ah, Monet. Was it any wonder he described it best of all? “A landscape hardly exists at all as a landscape because its appearance is changing in every moment. But it lives through its ambiance, through the air and light, which vary constantly.”
― Maximillian Potter, Shadows in the Vineyard: The True Story of the Plot to Poison the World's Greatest Wine

“While the concepts of vigneron and terroir exist elsewhere in France, no community of vignerons takes all of this more seriously than the subculture, or perhaps, superculture of Burgundian vignerons. These philosopher-farmer-shamans strive to bottle the divine as the divine deserves, convinced that the blood of Christ flows from these veins of the earth. Terroir and vigneron, in Burgundy, are terms of a religion, and of all the sacraments and rituals Burgundian vignerons hold dear, none is more sacred than the marrying of a vine to earth.”
― Maximillian Potter, Shadows in the Vineyard: The True Story of the Plot to Poison the World's Greatest Wine