Shadows in the Vineyard.
By Maximillian Potter
A book review by Aaron Wallace
The book Shadows in the Vineyard is about the attempted Blackmailing of Domaine Romanee Conti in Vosne-Romanee France by Jacques Solytis in January 2010. The book is comprised of four main narrative threads: the life of Aubert de Villaine, reporting the crime itself, the life of Louis Francois Prince of Conti, and a history of La Romanee vineyard. Aubert de Villaine’s life is broken down into three major sections: his early life and the decision to grafting the Romanee-Conti Vineyards, becoming the lead Vigneron, the period in the early 1990s when family drama nearly splintered the DRC. The section about Louis Francois is about his coming to own the vineyard and the intrigue he was involved in during the run up to the french revolution. The crime is told mostly from the perspective of the officers since the architect of the crime committed suicide in prison.
Aubert de Villaine is the current lead Vigneron of Domaine Romanee-Conti was just a young boy when the decision to pull all the pre-phylloxera vines out was made in 1945, and the decision to end the old practice of provignage and begin grafting rootstocks and scions. Aubert’s life has been touched by multiple tragedies one the death of a family member and the removal of Lalou Bize-Leroy from her position as co-director alongside Aubert de Villaine. This tragedy the blackmailing and poisoning of two plants on the domaine is the third tragedy the book deals with in his life. Despite having a troubled life he in this description remains guided by the faith that it is his responsibility to france and his family to do the absolute best by the vines and wine of the domaine. Aubert de Villaine has tried to get the Cote d’Or declared a world heritage site by UNESCO.
The description of the crime takes up the smallest section on the book. The plan was simple drill small holes into seven hundred vines and poison two threaten the domaine with the mass poisoning of the vineyard and receive millions not to do it. The criminals plot unraveled when they demanded a suitcase full of money to be dropped off in a cemetery in the Cote D’Or. The blackmailer was found immediately after the handoff, and then the criminal fingered his accomplice, his son. The mastermind committed suicide in prison and Aubert and the director of the other blackmailed domaine decided that the son was so abused by his father that they would be satisfied with a day in jail and fine of one euro per poisoned plant, but the son didn’t come to court on the day of his sentencing so they courts imposed a sentence of eight months.
There is a history of the original purchase of the land that makes up the current Domaine Romanee-Contie which concerns itself with the life and times of Louis Francois a prince of conti. This is mostly set during the reign of Louis the XV and madame de pompadour, this is also during a period of religious unrest in france. The section spends most of its time dealing with intrigue at court and Louis Francois’s unsuccessful rebellion attempt that was only prevented by the slowness of the british invasion fleet. When the section does get to the prince buying the land it remarks that he immediately takes the wine off the market.
The history of the vineyard takes you up from the prince to modern times covering the more important and interesting transfers of property. It also covers the way that the de Villaines and the Bize-Leroy’s came to be dual owners of the Domaine Romanee-Conti. It also talks about the history of the vineyard as it was owned by monks and the original vinification practices of the Cote d’Or. This is the part of the story that concerns itself with retelling the story of Phylloxera in french vineyards, and the end of the old vine propagation methods.
Shadows in the vineyard is a great book to get to know the characters behind the most fabled wine in Burgundy. Very few of us will have the opportunity to drink DRC La Tache or Romanee, but by reading this book you get the sense that the respect the people entrusted with that property treat the wines justifies the intense rarity and lavish value of the wine. Aubert de Villaine wants to have the entire Cote d’Or declared a world heritage site and he feels burgundy is a lasting monument to the civilizing influence of wine. The book is good for transporting you to burgundy in your mind and it is a marvelous book to take on a plane and read, it even has some value to the student of wine, as it introduces you to one of the worlds luminary figures in wine production. I feel like the Prince of conti sections where appended to give it a spy story feeling, when the trajectory of the real criminals was so much less exciting.
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