It is generally accepted that one of the most popular alcoholic drinks in the world was born thanks to a Benedictine monk. We checked whether this is indeed the case.

This is what the website of the Russian organization reports: "Roskachestvo": “Unlike many other drinks, the exact date of creation of the first ever “most festive wine” is known. This is August 4, 1668. The place of birth is also known: Hautevillers Abbey near the city of Epernay, about 150 km from Paris, in Champagne. The father of the drink, the Benedictine monk Pierre Perignon, went down in history with the title of Dom (literally translated as “venerable”). In the documents of the abbey, there is a record about the method of wine production, which was left by the holy father, it was precisely on August 4th. Dom Perignon helped turn Champagne's disadvantage - its uncertain northern climate, which produced fairly acidic wines - into an advantage.

In wines that did not have time to ferment before the onset of autumn cold, secondary fermentation began with the formation of carbon dioxide. An unpleasant story for winemakers of those times - magical bubbles literally burst the barrels. Pierre Perignon came up with the idea that the best container for such a capricious drink would be a glass bottle (by that time glass craftsmanship had just reached such a level of development that it made it possible to make fairly durable bottles). Historians also credit Pérignon with the invention of assemblage—mixing wines from different grape varieties to create a particularly high-quality drink.”

You can also learn about this from resources such as "Voice of America", "RIA Novosti", "Satellite", "The History of Things". The legend of the primacy of the French clergyman is firmly rooted in the world culture.

First, let's figure out what can even be called champagne. In everyday life (especially in the post-Soviet space) this name is attached to any sparkling wine. However, these concepts are not identical even in the CIS. According to interstate standard, adopted by representatives of five countries of the commonwealth, sparkling wine is a wine product with a volume fraction of ethyl alcohol from 10.0% to 13.5%, saturated with carbon dioxide as a result of complete or incomplete alcoholic fermentation in sealed vessels of grape must or secondary fermentation of fermented grape must and/or table wine material and a pressure of carbon dioxide in the bottle of at least 300 kPa at 20 °C. For champagne (which is referred to in the document as “sparkling wine of the traditional name”) these requirements narrowed up to 10.5–13% in the proportion of ethyl alcohol and 350 kPa in pressure. At the same time champagne, that is, the saturation of sparkling wines with carbon dioxide as a result of fermentation in hermetically sealed vessels, can be carried out in the classic French way (in bottles), in a tank method or in a continuous flow.

However, meeting all these conditions is not enough for a wine to be called champagne on the international market. Since 1891, in accordance with Madrid Agreement On the international registration of trademarks, a label with the word “champagne” can only appear on a bottle of wine produced in Champagne, a historical region in France famous for its wine-making traditions. In the USSR, this requirement was not observed, and today Russian producers of the famous “Soviet champagne” refer to regulations EU, making a distinction between the type of product and the appellation of origin or geographical indication. In addition, since 1996, only the Cyrillic name of the drink has been used in the country. Which, however, did not resolve the conflict with French manufacturers - in the EU, Russian products have little chance of hitting the shelves under that name.

And since we've reached Champagne, it's time to turn to the personality of Dom Perignon. Indeed, at the turn of 1638–1639, in the champagne town of Saint-Meni, appeared a boy named Pierre Perignon. In October 1652, when he was almost 14 years old, Pierre entered the Jesuit college in Chalons-sur-Marne. From another document it is known that five years later Pérignon informed the notary of Saint-Meni of his desire to become a priest and join the order of Benedictine monks at the Abbey of Saint-Vannes. During ten years of service to God, Perignon apparently showed his best side, since he received the honorary title of house (from the Latin dominus - “lord”) and in 1667 was sent to Auvilliers Abbey, where he took the positions of prosecutor (that is, administrator) and head of the cellar - only the abbot was higher in rank than him. Here he stayed until his death in 1715.

By the time of Perignon’s appointment, work was in full swing at the abbey to reconstruct the complex and revive medieval traditions. One of these traditions, generally characteristic of medieval monasteries, was winemaking. It is known that within a year of Pérignon's arrival the wine presses were repaired, and a few years later the first purpose-designed underground wine cellar in Champagne was built, with a vast main gallery capable of holding 500 barrels. Apparently, Perignon was well versed in the issue of wine preservation, since he took such an unprecedented step. However, we are interested in a more complex issue related to the production of this drink.

Thanks to the fact that King Louis XIV later took champagne under his patronage, a lot of evidence has reached us about the success of Dom Perignon in winemaking. However, no public or private document states that Perignon ever produced sparkling wine. In fact, the only evidence of Dom Perignon’s activities from people directly familiar with him is this treatise about the state of viticulture and winemaking in Champagne at the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries, which was created around 1724 by the student and successor of the prosecutor, brother Pierre. Pierre emphasizes that Dom Pérignon insisted on various methods that other winegrowers considered “impossible, even ridiculous.” However, here is the entire list of achievements that the priest attributes to his teacher:

pruning grapes to improve quality and avoid overproduction;
harvesting during the coolest hours of the morning;
harvesting in two or three passes and clearing the vineyard at intervals of several days to select the ripest and healthiest grapes;
using small baskets for harvesting to avoid damage to the fruit;
installation of wine presses in different villages to reduce the distance of transporting grapes;
making white wine from black grapes;
mixing different grape varieties;
mixing different types of wine (blending).

Even if Dom Perignon was not a pioneer in all of the above, his contribution to winemaking should be considered enormous. In particular, mixing different grape varieties is a technology specific to champagne. However, where did the information come from that it was Perignon who invented sparkling wine? According to what is popular among historians today versions, this fact was first mentioned on October 25, 1821 in a letter from the village priest Jean-Baptiste Grossard to Monsieur d'Herbes, deputy mayor of the city of Ay in Champagne. He wrote: “As you know, Monsieur, it was the famous Dom Perignon... who discovered the secret of making sparkling and still white wine and the method of removing sediment from a bottle.” Why did the testimony of a little-known person spread so widely? The fact is that even before the French Revolution, Grossard was the head of the cellar in that very Abbey of Auvilliers. However, he, of course, did not find either Dom Perignon or his student brother Pierre, so his words can hardly be trusted without evidence. Even François Bonal, Champagne's most influential historian, recognized Grossard's claims as "unfounded and even clearly erroneous." Regarding phrases “Go quickly, I'm tasting the stars!”, which the monk allegedly said after tasting the drink, appeared at the end of the 19th century in print advertising.

Moreover, there is also foreign evidence not in favor of Perignon’s primacy. On December 17, 1662, Briton Christopher Merrett, librarian of the Royal College of Physicians and founding member of the Royal Society, in his report on winemaking described champagne method (méthode champenoise). “Our winemakers have lately been putting enormous amounts of sugar and molasses into all kinds of wines to make them foamy and sparkling,” wrote the Englishman, referring to the second fermentation. At the same time, Merret mentioned the sparkling wines produced in Champagne, but contrasted French bottles (often exploding under pressure) with English ones, for which stronger glass was developed that could withstand effervescence. Thus, five years before the appearance of Dom Perignon in the Abbey of Auvilliers, another person had already briefly described the technology for making sparkling wines, which, apparently, they were familiar with in Champagne itself.

There are other things, the invention of which is groundless in modern sources. attributed to Dom Pérignon, for example, a bottle cap. Nevertheless, we can say with a great deal of confidence that, despite all his merits, the Benedictine monk did not invent either it or the drink called “champagne,” which did not interfere with the Moët & Chandon brand perpetuate his name is in the name of one of the most famous brands of this drink.

Cover image: Wikipedia.