The Winemaker's Wife

The novel uses the French winemaking setting as a way to connect the characters with their core, integral identities as winemakers, natives of the Champagne region, and citizens of France as a whole. The German occupation represents a rupture and a requisition of French ideas, language, stability, and culture; this forces the French people, particularly craftsmen like Michel, to search for subversive ways of reclaiming it. One way to do this is to build a strong personal connection with heritage and history, something that remains unshakable to the present day: “the Germans could impose their rules and requisition their bottles, but this hallowed place beneath the earth could never belong to them” (63). In doing so, they retain one small part of their land for themselves.

This heritage plays a key role in the dual-timeline structure, as Inès struggles to unite Olivia with her identity. For much of Inès’s life as Edith, her own identity is shattered, and she turns to alcohol to deal with the gap between her two selves. This same rupture of the self is subtly echoed in Olivia’s loss of identity due to the failure of her marriage. By attempting to bring first David and then Olivia back to their heritage, Inès attempts to heal her broken self. When she and Olivia return to Maison Chauveau decades later, both of them are healed in different ways. Inès finally makes peace with the mistakes of her past and recognizes her place in the winery’s heritage, and Olivia discovers an unknown ancestry and a new path forward (as well as a substantial financial reward). This gives the novel a cyclical structure, beginning with Inès’s introduction into this new world and ending with Olivia embracing the family tradition.

The other way heritage plays a role in the novel is through Céline, Samuel, and David’s Jewish ancestry. Céline wasn’t raised with religious beliefs or strong Jewish traditions, and legally she is exempt from the restrictions placed on Jewish immigrants because she was born in France. However, this doesn’t stop suspicion from falling on her or German soldiers from treating her with disdain. Céline worries that her ancestry will bring trouble to Maison Chauveau; however, Michel prioritizes her well-being over the potential danger. The Cohn siblings are foils for Céline, whose story shows the danger that many Jews faced trying to evade being captured by the Nazis. Ultimately, Céline is taken to Auschwitz, proving that her mixed ancestry and French citizenship did not stop the Nazis from persecuting her as a Jew. Poetic justice comes in the form of Olivia and Julien—descendants of Holocaust survivors—inheriting the wealth and traditions the Germans tried to destroy.