We previously discussed the difficulties faced by Bordeaux red wine producers during the interwar period and up to 1937. It should not be forgotten, however, that at that time Bordeaux produced mainly sweet or mellow white wines and that the financial situation of these growers was much better than that of red wine producers. Old winegrowing families know the anecdote of the father who had to share two classified growths between his two children: one at Margaux and the other at Sauternes. The one who inherited the grand cru of Margaux wept! What followed, of course, must have brought a smile back to his face.
The financial situation of the red-wine vineyard became so difficult that many properties of every reputation, up to and including classified growths, pulled up part of their vines. Château Giscours, for example, a prestigious Cru Classé of Margaux, extended over 43 hectares of vines in 1919 but claimed only a few meagre hectares in 1938. Château Citran, a vast Haut-Médoc vineyard, cultivated 73 hectares in 1919, but by 1938 only 3.75 hectares remained. Paradoxically, the Médoc was less affected than the Haut-Médoc and even than some great communal appellations. Indeed, the north of the Médoc peninsula was largely planted with hybrid varieties which, admittedly, could not claim to produce appellation wines but which, on the other hand, had two great qualities: they were heavy producers and they were very little sensitive to cryptogamic diseases. With the price scale having narrowed considerably, it was often more profitable to produce large quantities of wines without appellation than small crops of prestigious but poorly valued wines.
The 1930s were also the years of the creation and development of cooperative cellars. The more financial difficulty the growers of a wine region were in, the more cooperatives were seen as a solution. It will come as no surprise to find that, among the 27 cooperative cellars recorded in the 1949 Bordeaux et ses vins, eleven were in the Médoc, nine in the Côtes, three in the Libournais, three in the Sainte-Foy region, but none in the great white-wine regions — Sauternais, Graves, Sainte-Croix-du-Mont, Loupiac and surrounding communes — and only one in the Entre-Deux-Mers, because at that time the latter region was mainly a producer of mellow white wines.
But let us return to the famous 1937 vintage. It followed two very ordinary vintages, 1935 and 1936, which the négoce was very reluctant to buy and which abounded in the châteaux’s cellars. A great vintage was therefore awaited impatiently. The quality was there, and so were the buyers. Transactions could be concluded at prices admittedly far from miraculous, but sufficient to give the châteaux’s finances a little breathing space.
The 1938 vintage, the product of a rainy and cool late season that ended with rot attacks, was a modest vintage, criticised notably for a lack of concentration. Nevertheless, the many vine-pullings caused by the crisis, together with spring frosts, had created a shortage of available wines and business continued in a reasonable fashion.
The 1939 vintage, the first vintage of the war, was typical of many of those of the 1930s. Once again, rainy and cold harvests gave birth to wines lacking concentration and ripeness. With the sound of cannon very unfavourable to business, prices again fell clearly and very few transactions were recorded.
The concerns of the time went far beyond the preoccupations of winegrowers. The country had been invaded, with particularly heavy consequences for the Rothschild vineyards which, because of their owners’ Jewish origins, were placed under sequestration by the State while the owners were stripped of French nationality. A long legal battle pitted, on one side, the German authorities, who wanted the immediate sale of the estates, and, on the other, the French administration, which opposed this and stood firm to the end. The Rothschilds pulled off a masterstroke by obtaining the recruitment of the director of their vineyards, Mr Brun, by the administration in charge of the sequestration and his appointment to the management of the properties, which ensured continuity of management. Thus, very fortunately, the Rothschild properties were not sold and at the Liberation they were returned to their rightful owners.
But let us return to the first year of the Occupation: 1940. The victorious German Reich set up a continental blockade as in the time of Napoleon Ist. This situation, a priori unfavourable since it cut the vineyard off from some of its best outlets, had an unexpected consequence: it opened up the market of the Reich, which, following the territorial conquests of its armies, now extended to almost all of central Europe. A shortage arose to the point that prices rose by 50% within a few months. Buyers rushed to make purchases on the vine of the 1940 vintage, though of modest quality. To try to ward off this shortage, the Vichy government began by banning purchases on the vine of the future 1941 crop. Then, as that proved insufficient, it blocked its marketing after the harvest and thereafter authorised its release only very sparingly, while regulating selling prices. All this only stoked the black market, relaunched upward speculation and resulted in a disorganised market where the quality of the vintage mattered little. The sale of the 1942, also a small vintage, “liberated” by Vichy in July 1943, nonetheless went off correctly. The superb wines of 1943 arrived too late. The Reich’s military reverses and then the Normandy landings in the spring of 1944 had practically halted transactions: France was waiting for its liberation.
The situation of winegrowers under the Occupation would have been very favourable had the franc not lost a large part of its value against the Reichsmark. Throughout this period a veritable race took place between, on the one hand, the rise in wine prices and, on the other, the increase in production costs and the depreciation of the franc. The situation of winegrowers was thus far less brilliant than the strong and steady progress of the price lists might suggest.
The liberation of Bordeaux took place on 28 August 1944 and the new administration changed nothing in the rules put in place by the Vichy government. Purchases on the vine remained forbidden, one had to wait for the administrative release of vintages in order to sell them, and regulated prices were maintained. With the military and economic situation remaining chaotic, demand was weak. The excellent 1943s were therefore sold at the regulated prices of the modest 1942s, with no under-the-table payments. The abundant 1944 harvest gave wines of average quality. Sales were made at regulated, therefore frozen, prices, while galloping inflation had caused a sharp rise in production costs. Winegrowers’ finances were once again under strain.
On the vineyard side, the spring of 1945 was marked by frosts that sharply reduced yields. Only half a crop was brought in, but of truly exceptional quality. Certain wines, such as the Mouton Rothschild 1945, have become legendary. But was the economic situation sufficiently restored to do honour to these extraordinary wines?
To be continued in our next letter.
