The intriguingstoriesbehindthesparklydrinkthat’soriginated
fromtheChampagneregionof France
T
hevery soundofpopping
achampagnebottle
evokesa senseof joyand
celebration.AsWinston
Churchill famouslyput it, “InSuccess
youdeserve it and indefeat, youneed it.”
Auniversal fact that shouldbeknown to
all champagnedrinkers–youcan’t call a
bottleof fizzywine“champagne”unless
it’sactually fromChampagne, located
in thenortheastofFrance.Champagne
producersare incrediblyprotectiveof
themoniker,whichepitomisesa long-
standing traditionofwinemakingdating
back to the17thcentury.
PureSerendipity
In as early as thefifth century,
theRomanswere thefirst toplant
vines in the regionknown today as
Champagne, but until themodern
champagne revolution came about, the
regiononlyproduced apale, pinkish
winemade fromPinot noir, not the
golden, bubbly liquidwenow associate
with thename.
Despite theongoingdebate
between theEnglish and theFrench as
towhowas responsible for inventing
the fizzydrink, one thingweknow
for certain is that thebubbles inwines
were initially considered a signof
poorwinemaking. Champagne’s cold
climate and short growing season
doesn’t leave enough time for thewines
to complete the fermentationprocess
before they arebottled, so after the
coldwinter, theprocess is once again
underway. The refermentation creates
carbondioxidewhichnowbecomes
trapped in thebottle, thereby creating
the sparkle.
This iswhere aprominent name in
thehistoryof champagne comes into
play. PierrePérignonwas aBenedictine
monkwho, in1688,managed the
cellars andwinemaking at theAbbey
ofHautvillers.DomPérignon (Dom is
anhonorific title) spent a great deal of
time trying to curewhat hedubbed the
“madwine”.Althoughhis attempt to
tame the sparklewas unsuccessful, he
was creditedwithdeveloping the art of
blending aswell as amethod topress
theblackgrapes toyield awhite juice.
Apart from that he also introduced
theuseof heavyglass bottles and
cork stoppers,whichhelpedprevent
thebottles from exploding. Contrary
topopular belief,DomPérignondid
A staff attends to thebottles
in thecellarsof VeuveCliquot
champagne vineyard. Veuve
Clicquot hasgrown intoa
substantial champagnehouse
anda respectedbrand since
LadyCliquot tookover the
business in 1805.
在凱歌酒莊的酒窖中，一位員
工仔細檢查架上的香檳。自從
凱歌夫人在
1805
年接管酒莊
後，便將其逐步奠定成備受推
崇的香檳品牌。
只有法國香檳區釀製的優質氣泡酒才配稱為「香檳」，讓我們細味當中的傳奇故事
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