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| Dom Pérignon |
When we test a good sparkling wine or the delicious champagne, we should remember the legacy of the benedictine abbé Dom Pierre Pérignon. He lived most of his life in the XVII century. Dom Pérignon was the guardian and manager of an abbey wine-cellars at Hautvilliers, in the district of Épernay (Marne department, France). This region has been witness of historic events. For example the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451 -where Romans, Visigoths, Franks and other allies driven-back successfully Atila's forces. Also, into the region took place the dramatic battles of Chalons-sur-Marne during the First War (1914 and 1918), and the Battle of the Bulge in the Second World War (1944).
During the management of Dom Pérignon at Hautvilliers, the abbey increased up its productivity of wines because Pérignon had introduced the cork to close the bottles. The bottles were hermetically and impermeable sealed by the cork. This new technique was important because in the past the wine was inert due to it was exposed to the air in open jars. With the time, in the Middle Ages the jars were closed with a mixture of wax and oil. With the cork it was not possible keep the wine better but also start the fermentation and bubbly process of the wine.
The chronicles say that Dom Pérignon, during a habitual inspection to the wine-cellars, had accidentally founded the fundamentals of the gasified fermentation of the wines. When he tested the product and felt the sparkling sensation he call around to others monks: '… brothers, brothers... come here soon, I'm drinking the stars...'.
