Dom Perignon
Dom Pérignon (1639-1715) was a Bénédictin monk born in France.
Dom Perignon, known for his brilliant mind, was Prosecutor and Administrator of the Cellars of the abbey of Hautvilliers near Reims. At that period, Reims was the town of the sacrament of the kings of France and the wine produced here was famous for mass celebration.
Dom Pérignon was a wine expert. Perhaps due to the fact that he was blind, he was endowed with an outstanding sense of smell and palate. He was able to recognize which grapes came from which vineyards. He had the brilliant idea to assemble the wines between them in such a way that qualities of some are added to those of the others.
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[CONT] ...Pérignon knew of the particular characteristic of the white wine of Aÿ, the wine of Champagne. It became effervescent with a second, short-lived fermentation. It still contained some yeasts which remained dormant in cold weather. Under the influence of the warmth of spring, when the sap begins to work in the vine, the yeasts wake and proliferate. Dom Pérignon sought to induce this second, accidental fermentation of the wine of Champagne at a given time, regulate it and keep its effervescence in the wine. Having understood that the pressure was due to the carbon dioxide, he decided to use bottle made of thicker glass and better corks secure with a wire.
When he died at the beginning of the XVIII century, Champagne wines were favorite at the King's court.