The Winemakers of Chantegrêle | Jean-Paul Malaval

In Corrèze, in the middle of the 19th century. Peak and decline of the lord of Jandelles, frozen in his conservatism and privileges, powerless in the face of the new breath sweeping through the ending century and a sickness that will devastate his vineyards: the phylloxera. In this middle of the 19th century, the lower Limousin region has seventeen thousand hectares of vineyards. In Chantegrêle, frozen in his conservatism and privileges, Count Firmin de Jandelles reigns supreme over his castle and vast vineyard, a family heritage over three centuries old. Manelle, a beautiful wild woman, offers the lord a final burst of life while the end of an era looms: Jandelles' authority is increasingly contested, the old rivalries between Bonapartists and republicans fade away. But the worst is yet to come: an insect from America... the phylloxera.