IV · May 1940
The Last May
A chalk line in a cellar marked May 1940.
In May 1940 a last cuvée was drawn. The story that followed does not belong on this page.
The Wehrmacht reached Reims on 11 June 1940. From July 1940, the German occupation administered Champagne as a rationed industry.
In a small, quiet maison on the chalk, a cuvée was filled before that. On the cellar wall someone wrote a date in chalk: May 1940.
What happened between May 1940 and 1944 is the story of the novel Dr. Raphael Nagel wrote to accompany the revival. It belongs there. This page can only hint at it and remain silent.
After 1945 the brand passed to a trustee, then to the relevant authority, then into oblivion. The name disappeared from the registers from 1951 on.