CHAMPAGNE WAS discovered, not invented. If grapes in a cool climate are picked late and fermentation is halted before winter begins, light bubbles form in the wine. It was the accidental result of a failed attempt by a seventeenth-century Benedictine monk, Dom Pe´rignon, to reverse this process, and his surprise at discovering that the bubbles considerably enhanced the wine’s bouquet, that gave rise to what we now call “champagne”.
17 October 2024, The Tablet
From the Vineyard
English wine with French fizz
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