The Maisons bringing back still wines with Burgundy prices.
Before Christopher Merrett discovered the secrets to taming the bubble in champagne, the region produced mainly still wines. In actual fact, effervescence was seen as a fault.
So much so that the infamous Dom Perignon, the monk who has been credited with the “creation of champagne“, dedicated his life to keeping the bubbles from mysteriously appearing in his wines. It was common to hear the monks say that “one must drink their champagne before Easter, before the wines become possessed by the Devil”.
With very little understanding of vinification at the time, they didn’t realise that Champagne’s cold winters halted fermentation and the yeast would become dormant until Spring. The second fermentation created the diabolical effervescence and “tainted” the wine. The bottles that hadn’t exploded were disposed of by the monks, and upon Dom Perignon’s death in 1715, not a single drop of sparkling wine was found in the cellars at Hautvillers, with most of the barrels being red wine which he used for blending.
When the monks ruled the vines, champagne wine was known as “œil de perdrix” a still red wine with a very pale pink robe, like an eye of the partridge, and competed with Burgundy reds. But when effervescence in champagne became the trend, a new niche was born. The humble Coteaux Champenois was relegated to the sidelines as it was seen as a cheap lower quality alternative to Burgundy. Production dwindled, with less
This Article was originally published on Champagne Every Day
