Dom Perignon - The Monk Who Didn’t Invent Champagne

Everyone knows the story of Dom Pérignon — the monk who invented Champagne and declared he was “tasting the stars.” But history tells a very different tale. In this episode of The Wine Lab, we uncover the truth behind one of wine’s most enduring myths.

Dom Pérignon didn’t create sparkling wine at all! In fact, he spent much of his life trying to eliminate bubbles from the Abbey of Hautvillers’ wines. Yet his innovations in grape selection, blending, and cellar practices laid the foundation for the Champagne style we know today. Along the way, we’ll explore how monks in southern France were making Blanquette de Limoux as early as 1531, how English scientists and glassmakers contributed critical tools, and how Champagne finally transformed its “fault” into a feature during the 18th century.

It’s a story of climate, innovation, and collaboration across regions and centuries — and of how a myth, repeated often enough, can outshine the real history. The truth, though, is just as fascinating: a centuries-long journey that turned accidental fizz into the world’s most iconic wine of celebration.

Blanquette de Limoux
A sparkling wine from southern France, first recorded in 1531 at the Abbey of Saint-Hilaire; made by the méthode ancestrale and often cited as the oldest sparkling wine still in production.

• Reference: Limoux wine (overview; cites Oxford Companion to Wine): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limoux_wine
  
  
• Reference (local/official tourism): https://en.limouxin-tourisme.com/discover/culture-history-and-legend/sites-poles-of-the-cathar-country/abbey-of-saint-hilaire/
  
  
• Scholarly background (Master’s thesis, full PDF): https://www.tesisenred.net/bitstream/handle/10803/691833/TESI%20Arnau%20Just%20Borr%C3%A0s.pdf
  
  

Méthode ancestrale
An older sparkling method where fermentation finishes in the bottle, yielding natural sweetness and softer effervescence—explicitly recognized in the Limoux AOC specifications.

• INAO overview (recent factsheet): https://www.inao.gouv.fr/node/2916/printable/pdf
  
  

Secondary fermentation (Champagne method)
The in-bottle fermentation that creates pressure and dissolved CO₂.

Christopher Merret
In 1662, Merret presented Some Observations concerning the Ordering of Wines to the Royal Society, describing the deliberate addition of sugar to provoke a secondary fermentation—key historical evidence for controlled sparkling production.

• Royal Society “Making Science” manuscript page: https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/rbo_2ii_14/some-observations-concerning-the-ordering-of-wynes-wines-presented-to-the-royall-society-by-christopher-merrett
  
  
• Early English Books Online (full text): https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A32715.0001.001/1%3A7
  
   Both are primary/archival sources for Merr