On this day 1693…invention of Champagne?

4th August, 2015 by Rupert Millar

This day in 1693 is sometimes pinpointed as the day Dom Pérignon “invented” Champagne, although the Petit Journal cover below claims the 200th anniversary was 14 June 1914 – which meant Dom Pérignon “discovered” the secret of sparkling wine in 1714, a mere year before his death in 1715.

The very idea one can put a finger on an exact date for the creation of something like Champagne is of course absurd but very much in keeping with the stories that have sprung up around the famous monk.

Of all the founding myths in the wine trade, that of Dom Pérignon the man is perhaps the most elaborate and misunderstood. Let’s just reiterate the few basic truths that are known about the famous Benedictine cellar master of….

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One Response to “On this day 1693…invention of Champagne?”

Julian Glowinski says:

September 5, 2015 at 2:18 pm

A small omission from your informative article is that Dom Pérignon is said to have based his ‘invention’ on the method of producing sparkling wines that he came across during a pilgrimage to the St Hilaire Abbey near Limoux, not far from Carcassonne. Though the English Wikipedia entry for Dom Pérignon does not mention this, the French one does. It could be said that Dom Pérignon ‘borrowed’ the Limoux method to create Champagne and that the blanquette and cremant of Limoux, some of which today are easily of the same quality (some might say even better, depending upon the Champagne!) as its off-spring, are the direct forefathers of Champagne.

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