When we were first learning about wine at our grand pappy’s knee, it was revealed that Pierre “Dom” Perignon (1638-1715), the blind French winemaker, “invented” Champagne. And he announced the discovery with a shout, “Come quickly, I am drinking stars!” It was a lovely tale, and we bought it hype, line and bubbles.      

Well, as close as we now can get to the truth, it wasn’t Dom Perignon who invented, or more properly, discovered Champagne. And he wasn’t blind. And for most of his winemaking life, he actually tried to keep the bubbles from forming in his wine for in those days bubbles were a winemaking fault. It is likely that the folks who first produced Champagne sang “God save the King” because — by Jove! — they were British!

And it all came about because of global cooling and, later, because of a British admiral who wanted to save good wood for his warships and some British wine experts who fooled around with French still wine from the Champagne district. Confused? Let us unravel this vinous plot while sipping some sparkling brew.

 It was the good old Romans who introduced vines to England before the first century (was LV a good year?) and we have actual records that state by 1086 there were 50 thriving vineyards in England. By 1350, the warming Gulf Stream changed course and the English viticulturists faced the inconvenient truth of global cooling. There went the wine industry in Merrie Olde, so the Brits had to increase importing many different wines from different countries. And one of the places they imported wines from was France’s Champagne district, only the wines then were not fizzy. Just crisp, still and pale. Delicate, one might say because of the very cool climate in the Champagne district.

Recently published research by Champagne expert Tom Stevenson proved the English were actually taking the French still wine imported in barrels and making it into sparkling wine with the addition of sugar or molasses to cause the secondary fermentation which makes the bubbles. The first mention of this achievement was in England in 1662 several decades before the French even claim to have made their first “sparkling” Champagne. Also note that the first French Champagne house dedicated to making the bubbly stuff was Dom Ruinart in 1729 some 50 years later.

Also noteworthy, in order to make Champagne, one also had to have strong glass to keep the fizz from exploding the bottles causing havoc in the cellars and glass in one’s face, a fine way to dampen a celebration. The English were surely the ones who invented a bottle strong enough to hold in the bubbles and that bit of progress came about in a strange way, reminiscent of that James Burke television show, Connections, where he connected disparate discoveries.

In 1615 Admiral Sir Robert Mansell, worried that good wood was being used for making charcoal instead of building ships, persuaded King James I to ban wood for heating and instead urged the use of coal. Coal burning produced higher temperatures; higher temperatures produced stronger glass bottles. Splendid! The English also had cork stoppers, too. Even better! Sir Robert retired from the navy and went into the glass bottle making business and made a mint. Jolly good! Now England had what it needed to make sparkling wine — get the good stuff from France, start a secondary fermentation in a strong bottle, cork it, put it down for a couple of years and start inviting your friends.     

So, what gives with the Dom Perignon myth and what happened in France?

Turns out that Dom Perignon was really a fine winemaker and cared very much about the quality of his still wines. He worked very hard to improve quality by selective pruning, blending for flavor and writing everything down like a good scientist.

One of his successors at the Abbey of Hautvillers, Dom Groussard, wrote an overly romanticized account about how Dom Perignon invented Champagne. This story was published in 1821, over 100 years after Dom Perignon’s death. It was a much exaggerated account, including several myths such as Dom Perignon being the first man to use corks and being able to name the vineyard by tasting a single grape. Groussard’s reference to “blind” tasting of the various blends twisted into the fact that Perignon was blind. All this was done to give the Dom Perignon and the Abbey greater historical importance. Today we call it “image building” and some people make it a career. Detractors call it hype. While there is much doubt about who first sang “The Night We Invented Champagne” there is no doubt that the French picked up on it and over the years made it the wonderful celebratory drink it is today. After the Ruinart House began “their all sparkling thing” many other great Champagne firms began, with many entrepreneurs from outside of France, especially Germany, joined the battle of the bubbles — think of non-French names — Deutz, Heidsieck, Bollinger, Tattinger and Roederer.  

Each generation in France contributed advances in the making of Champagne. So, let the debate continue, but let us not forget that while the French may not have invented this elegant elixir, they surely perfected it and that, dear drinkers, is what really counts.