We get a lot of questions on different topics about champagne. TheChampagneSommelier answers Your champagne questions. [read the full champagne story]
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The first time someone documented the involuntary mousse in wine from Champagne was probably in an unnamed article from 1320 when wine from Epernay was described as “sparkling on the tongue, clear, brilliant, strong, fine and fresh”.
Similar bubbling descriptions are also found from Burgundy and then mostly from the slightly cooler northern subprovince of Chablis. It was therefore known early on that wines sparkling with these wines were not particularly sought after. Most often they were mixed with water to reduce the odd effect.
The English had certainly already written a document in 1662 on how to make a wine bubble by simply adding sugar just before serving. When the first consciously produced sparkling wines appeared in 1670 in Champagne, they went down like a bomb. As is well known, Dom Pérignon’s method was considerably more sophisticated.
