The Winemaker's Wife

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-8

Chapters 9-17

Chapters 18-27

Chapter 28-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Champagne Wine

Champagne is at the heart of The Winemaker’s Wife, and the novel’s “hook” that sets it apart from other titles in the saturated market of World War II historical fiction. In the novel, it symbolizes culture, heritage, and resilience. Although “champagne” is often used to refer to any sparkling white wine, the term is properly an “AOP” or “appellation d'origine protégée,” which means a product with a legally protected origin. Thus, sparkling white wine can’t be labeled or marketed as champagne unless it specifically comes from the Champagne region. This cultural distinction creates the local pride and deep connection with Heritage and Identity that features so strongly in the novel.

The wine also symbolizes the French resistance. It is in high demand by the German army, which gives the winemakers, their workers, and families a modicum of protection not easily attained by others living across France. Like a talisman, the champagne appears to stand against the occupation: “The grapes themselves were the first to resist the Germans, dying on the vines or simply committing suicide in the middle of the night by falling to earth in the darkness” (40). The winemakers use their product to subtly undermine the Germans by supplying inferior vintages and by using it as leverage to have their men returned to work in the fields.

Inès’s relationship with champagne marks different phases in her journey. Initially, she is unable to grasp the nuances in the wine’s flavor or the detail needed for winemaking. When she’s older and has learned from her mistakes, she can appreciate the wine: “Even though the 1940 harvest had been so terrible, the bubbles were fine and elegant, the wine itself buttery as brioche” (375). In this way, the champagne becomes a lens through which to view the protagonist’s journey and growth.

Food and Drink

Food and drink appear throughout the novel as symbols of status and security. One of the earliest hints of this comes when Theo and Céline’s cottage is raided, and the German soldiers “carried out precious loaves of bread, jars of jam, [and] cans of coffee” (31). In this moment, the soldiers use the theft of food as an act of domination, and it sets the novel’s tone for the gradual erosion of power that the household will face. Later, Michel references this power dynamic as a way to encourage Inès to think more broadly: “All of France is starving, and because we live near farmland—and because the Germans want to keep us happy in order to keep the champagne flowing—we have enough to eat” (118). While their lives are not lavish, Michel and Inès live in relative safety because of their access to food and drink.

Food again becomes a status symbol during Inès’s affair with Antoine. Initially, she believes that he “had access to contraband items and sumptuous meals because he had money and friends in high places” (192). Even as the truth becomes more apparent, Inès allows herself to be misled by the security these things provide. Food and drink also play an integral role in Edith’s place in the resistance, serving German soldiers in order to pass on their secrets. Ironically, this is what causes Edith and her husband to fall under suspicion later, since free-flowing food and drink come to be associated with compromised morals; however, like the production of champagne, it serves a higher purpose.

The Wine Caves

Although Maison Chauveau and its grounds are fictional, they are based on real French wineries with intricate underground mazes like the one featured in the novel. When Inès first arrives in her new home, she becomes lost and terrified in the wine caves and has to be rescued by Michel. By contrast, Michel could navigate them flawlessly and even used them as shelter during World War I. Initially, the caves represent the complicated world of winemaking of which Inès is not yet a part. Later, they become a place of refuge: Both Céline and the Cohn siblings hide there from German authorities. Like the champagne itself, they represent the resistance movement. In bringing people to the caves and offering them a place to hide, Inès learns from her mistakes and becomes part of something greater. In the full-circle storyline, an elderly Inès finally returns to the caves at the very end of her journey.