12/26/07 Who Created Champagne?

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and on today's program we are answering questions from the email. Recently a listener wrote task, "Could you tell my friends and I if it is true that Dom Perignon is not the creator of Champaign?" I am familiar with the popular legend that a Benedictine monk by the name of Dom Perignon upon experiencing his first taste of Champaign called out excitedly from the abbey cellar declaring to his brothers that he was "drinking the stars". This all said to have happened in 1688. Although Dom Perignon is credited with making great strides in perfecting and promoting the process used to make Champaign, I am afraid that he is most likely not the first to have created the bubbly beverage. According to one of my favorite resources on the topic, Christie's World Encyclopedia of Champaign and Sparkling Wines, the British were consuming sparkling wines long before that famous incident. But it is a great story and it is as romantic and unique a story as the beverage itself. With over 200 million bubbles in each bottle it is unlike any other wine on earth. It is has the power to turn a hum drum get together into an affair to remember. It is the beverage of optimism for launching ships, toasting relationships and ringing in the New Year. So weather the famous story of the Benedictine Monk is entirely accurate or not it is a tale that has captured our imaginations and is synonymous with luxury and good taste - and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.