La Maison Rouge

"Confiscate all the wine. Every bottle, every barrel. Then burn the wineries and destroy the vines." As the Allies advanced up the Rhône river valley Himmler ordered the total destruction of the wines of the Alsace. Desperate to survive the German onslaught, the great wineries employed every trick they could to spare their treasures. At Château du Schoppenwihr a deranged colonel crossed swords with the resistance over a rumored ancient wine cellar - at a place they called La Maison Rouge.