12/17/07 Champagne History

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. Last week we spent talking about Champagne and sparkling wine and so I thought I would share a bit of history about the libation of the day  yes Champagne! Well the stories behind the creation and making of Champagne are, as you may imagine, filled with some inaccuracies and many exaggerations. For example; many of us believe that the French monk Dom Perignon, invented Champagne. Naught! Actually it was around for quite a long while before the young Benedictine monk began his involvement. What Dom Perignon is responsible for, is furthering our ability to make Champagne. He found that thicker glass and a Spanish cork lashed to the bottles helped to keep them from exploding before they were opened. Cool things like that. And it was Madame Pompadou who introduced the court of France to Champagne. Back then, the secondary yeasts used to create the bubbles still remained in the bottle and she didn't like it. So she created a glass with a hollow stem to catch the sediment allowing she and her guests to avoid drinking it. The Widow Cliquot, feeling much the same as Madame Pompadou, set about drilling holes in her wooden kitchen table. Then inverting the Champagne bottles into the holes she managed to catch the yeast sediment in the neck of the bottle. She would then disgorge it prior to sealing the bottle for the final time. That was the beginning of ridding the wione of the spent yeast and disgorging as we know it today. By the way Widow in French is Veuve so that would make this ingenious woman Madame Veuve Cliquot  a legendary pioneer of Champagne. Cheers! Happy Holidays and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine!