Champagne is a serious wine, whatever season, and journalists Don and Petie Kladstrup have given us 
a delightful political-socio-economic commentary on the remarkable French bubbly in their book, Champagne: How the World's Most Glamorous Wine Triumped Over War and Hard Times
American journalists living in Normandy, the Kladstrups have studied the relationship of wine and culture in ways that are accessible to those of us who love history, politics and good stories -- and don't mind a little wine snobbism as well. "The biggest cause of eye injury in France is popping the cork, so be careful," they said in a recent presentation about their lively book about "the most complex, most expensive and most regulated wine in the world."
Fabulous designer Coco Chanel, they said, only drank champagne on two occasions -- "when she was in love, and when she wasn't." Works for me, baby. This book focuses on World War I when the French region of Champagne, the size of the country of Belgium, suffered 1051 days of German shelling -- and yet the locals under remarkable odds continued to produce their prized product. The Klagstrups previously wrote Wine and War
The Champagne region has at least 19,000 champagne producers. While thousands of small producers create the bubbly under their own names, 25 major houses make 70% of the champagne that's sent around the world. So go find the small producers and spend a day or so drinking in all in.
