|
|
|
|
|
Dom Pierre Pérignon (ca. 1638–1715) was a Benedictine monk frequently credited with the invention of Champagne. The famous brand of Champagne Dom Pérignon is named after him.
A son of wealthy parents, Pierre Perignon joined the monastery in his teens. By adulthood his skills as a manager led to the oversee of monastic finances, and having always provided for the community's poor he was much loved throughout his life. In old age his failing eyesight gave strength, it was said, to an unerring nose and palate...
In the late 17th century, Dom Perignon discovered that by blending the wine from several of his best vineyards, he could produce a wine greater than any of its components. Intrigued by its naturally sparkling tendencies and helped along by the introduction of glass bottles and corks, Dom Perignon is credited with developing the méthode champenoise, allowing his exquisite cuvée to ferment in individual bottles.
|
|
|
The quote attributed to him—'Come quickly, I am drinking the stars!'—is supposedly what he said when tasting the first sparkling Champagne. However, the first appearance of that quote appears to have been in a print advertisement in the late 1800s by the producer of Dom Perignon Champagne. While the Dom did work tirelessly and successfully to improve the quality and renown of the still wines of the Champagne, he did not invent sparkling wine, nor was he the first to make Champagne. Indeed he worked hard to prevent a secondary fermentation which was seen as a fault and most likely to break the wine bottles. New documentary evidence suggests that a fizzy or sparkling wine was first made in England at least several decades before it was produced in France.
No one had to 'invent' sparkling wine. Effervescence has always been a natural phenomenon, produced as a result of fermentation.
Dom Perignon, the Champagne, was first produced in 1936. Moet et Chandon which purchased the Abbey of Hautville 120 years earlier produced a super cuvee which celebrated the Monk's exploits. The Champagne is only produced in exceptional vintages; in 2 styles, the Brut and the Brut Rose and in 2 sizes, 750ml bottle and 1.5Liter bottle. The name has become synonomous with class and stature. A gift of Dom Perignon will express that only the best will do.
The Abbey of Hautvillers is, to this day, the custodian of the memory of the wine, touchstone of its past and of the vintages still to come. In fact, it's the timeless guardian of the spirit of Dom Pérignon.
Not content with the painstaking selection of only Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes cultivated in an exclusive choice of plots offering the very best soils and perfect exposure, Dom Pérignon categorically insists on choosing only the best harvests and thereafter, on a long, slow aging of the wine in its lees.
In the Champagne region, the first 'miracle' attributed to Dom Perignon was the creation of white wine from black grapes. He accomplished this by drawing off the juice from perfectly formed grapes, and then using only the initial must, or first pressing.
Patient but tenacious, he was ingenious in knowing what grapes complemented each other. He blended not only different grapes, but the juice from the same grape grown in different vineyards. This was a technical feat not for the faint hearted, even among the most experienced vintners.
Prior to blending he would taste the grapes without knowing the source vineyard to avoid influencing his perceptions. References to his 'blind tasting of wine' have led to the common misconception that Dom Pérignon was blind.
The conditions of the Champagne region made for a short growing season and a late harvest. Wine was bottled for fermentation in autumn, and when spring came and temperatures rose, the fermentation started again. Then just as suddenly it would go flat.
Today, most of the practices he developed are still in use by Champagne makers throughout the world. While some steps of la méthode champenoise have been mechanized, the basic process has remained the same for all these many years.
In his era the in-bottle refermentation that gives sparkling wine its sparkle was an enormous problem for winemakers. When the weather cooled off in the fall, fermentation would sometimes keep fermentable sugars from being converted to alcohol. If the wine was bottled in this state, it became a literal time bomb. When the weather warmed in the spring, dormant yeast roused themselves and began generating carbon dioxide that would at best push the cork out of the bottle, and at worst explode, starting a chain reaction. Nearby bottles, also under pressure, would break from the shock of the first breakage, and so on, which was a hazard to employees and to that year's production. Dom Pérignon thus tried to avoid refermentation.
He did introduce some features that are hallmarks of Champagne today, particularly extensive blending from multiple vineyards. Other innovations by him include the stopper that was fixed to the bottle with hemp rope (and later metal wire), the agrafe, and the use of bottles made of thicker glass.
Moet and Chandon were not the first Champagne House to use the Dom Perignon name on their products; a small group of farmer growers at Hautvillers used the name on their wine in the early part of the last century but did not register it as a trademark.
|
|
|
|
