Who invented Champagne?

There are three well-known fundamentals of the alcohol industry. First, it is that wine is made from the pressed juice of grapes. The second is that the process of fermentation makes the alcohol. And the third is that Champagne was invented by the French. But what if I told you, one of these statements wasn’t true?

The modern concept of Champagne is a deliberately created sparkling wine from the eponymous region. Wine with a “sparkle” has existed since Biblical times, and the process known as the “méthode ancestrale” is the oldest in the world.

This involves bottling the still fermenting juice and sealing the vessel to capture the carbon dioxide gas, creating a Pétillant Naturel or gentle carbonation.

Other than through this process, if a wine had a fizz, it was perceived as a fault. An erroneous sparkle could be started by a rogue yeast being present in the bottle through poor winery hygiene, creating contamination within the sealed bottle.

This yeast would restart the fermentation process by “eating” the residual sugar in the liquid, creating a little more alcohol and the all-important spritz which would be trapped by the stopper.

This was a dangerous occurrence, as the French did not have the technological know-how to make glass bottles strong enough, so exploding bottles were common.

Who, then, was the first to create the go-to “luxury” liquid we use to celebrate all manner of things today? The legend goes that it was the Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon who famously shouted, “Come quickly, I am tasting the stars!” when he first tasted the concoction in the cellar of Abbey of Hautvillers.

But, in 1662, an Englishman called Christopher Merret presented a paper to the Royal Society in London outlining his process to create fizz in the wine of the Champagne region by adding molasses to deliberately restart the fermentation. Merret’s paper preceded Dom Pérignon setting foot in the Champagne region by six years; the monk did not start his role at the abbey until late on in 1668.

This Dom Pérignon myth was actually a genius piece of early “marketing” instigated by one of his successors, Dom Groussard, who in the 1820s attributed the fictitious quote to Dom Pérignon to raise the profile of their product.

Although Dom Pérignon followed the path set by an Englishman, he can demonstrably be credited for a number of advancements which makes the product of today some of the finest wines you can drink.

Champagne, however, is a wonderful glass of wine no matter who “invented” it.

Champagne worth celebrating with:

Champagne Bollinger, Special Cuvee, NV – a Pinot Noir dominated juicy wine.

Champagne Taittinger Brut NV – an aromatic wine of finesse and elegance.

Champagne Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé NV – stunningly sophisticated pink fizz.