Sparkling Wine Discovered
How was sparkling wine discovered? Wine has been produced with fizzy properties since France was known as Gaul, but no one knows exactly when sparkling wine was first made. However, it is thought that it was discovered by accident. Wine-growing communities in Champagne, which was an extension of Burgundy, were trying to create a wine that would be equal to Burgundy wines. During the cold winters, the wine was not fermenting properly, so the yeast cells in the bottle went to sleep and started producing carbon dioxide gas. Those bottles that survived the winter contained what we now know as sparkling wine.
While the earliest evidence of wine production is from the Neolithic period, the first wineries outside of France were established in the 18th century. Among the first of these was the Ruinart winery, founded in 1729. Later, other houses like Moet, Clicquot, and Heidsieck followed.
The champagne region was first adopted by the French nobility in the 15th and 16th centuries. However, where was wine discovered? produced by the region did not sparkle at the time. Champagne had been associated with royalty, but the story of the monk who made it essentially changed the public’s perception of the drink. Moet and Chandon, the makers of Champagne, then developed a brand of sparkling wine called Dom Perignon, which was credited with the discovery of Champagne.
The first scientific research into sparkling wine began in the 1600s. A member of the Royal Society, Dr. Christopher Merret presented a paper in London on the process of making wine that produced bubbles when it was opened. Merret’s scientific interests also included the use of tree-bark and glass-making. The method he developed is known as the methode champenoise.
How Was Sparkling Wine Discovered?
In the late seventeenth century, English wine-coopers began adding sugar to wine to make it more drinkable. In 1662, Merret presented a paper in the Royal Society on this process. His discoveries coincided with the development of English glass-making technology, which allowed them to create bottles that could withstand internal pressures during secondary fermentation. The result was a wine that was brisk and sparkling.
There are two methods of making sparkling wine. The first was the ancestral method, and the second method was developed by the Champenoise in the nineteenth century. Later, this process was copied by other sparkling wine-producing regions. By the end of the nineteenth century, this method became the standard for quality sparkling wines.
This method of producing sparkling wine was originally made from red wine. Eventually, however, it began to spread beyond the Loire region. This method of production allowed winemakers to create sparkling wine of any color and from any place. In addition to the Loire region, sparkling wine is produced in the United States and the United Kingdom.
While it’s possible that sparkling wine was discovered in the Italian Dolomites, it was not actually invented until the 19th century. Although the Italian Dom Perignon’s documents do mention champagne specifically, there is an indirect link between the two types of wine. Earlier versions of sparkling wine were made with a traditional method, but it is not clear whether Dom Perignon attempted to create a sparkling wine.