[Sca-cooks] Re: champagne (sorry)

[kylie walker]

Sigh. Please picture me smacking myself on the wrist. Several times. I
really do know better than to say something likely to start a discussion
when I can't possibly take part in the discussion. I'm on hols, and all my
wine  stuff (a highly technical and trademarked term!) is two states away.
(And my phrasing was terrible, given the discussion had been about what the
term champagne meant. A lot of people seem to use the term champagne for any
sparkling wine made in that general style. So when people talk about Dom
Perignon being the inventor of champagne, it seems to be used in the sense
that he "invented" the whole style. Rather than being around when glass
finally got strong enough and corks could be used to take advantage of
in-bottle fermentations that were already well known ... please remember, no
research to hand, going on shaky memory ...)

You sound like you know rather a lot about it, and I would have enjoyed
having a chat about it. Maybe some other time when I can actually refresh my
memory before diving into a discussion?

Kylie


From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>


On what do you base this statement?

What Dom Perignon is credited with is creating sparkling champagne.  A
similar still wine has been manufactured in the region since Roman times.  A
natural sparkling wine, blanquette de Limoux, has been manufactured since
the Carolingian days.  Combining the qualities of the local grapes with the
natural second fermentation of the blanquette de Limoux and using quality
glass bottles with cork stoppers, someone in Champagne was able to produce
modern champagne, and, according to his biographers, Dom Perignon has a
decent claim.

Bear


>Obligatory historical content - contrary to popular myth, Dom Perignon
>verylikely didn't invent champage.

>Kylie



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