Behind every mistake there is a great invention, Champagne invented by the crazy English
Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, head of family owned Taittinger Champagne, made a comment in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper by saying “ I love England, It’s a big market for bubbles. They love Champagne. They created Champagne because of a mistake. Benedictine monks were supplying with still wines from Champagne, red and white wine. The English left these inexpensive still white wines on the London docks and the wines got cold so they started undergoing a second fermentation causing them to become carbonated accidently. Like all great mistakes, it led a to great invention”. As the English have a little crazy side, they invented the whole thing, the playful side. They also invented the consumption of champagne, as well as clarets from Bordeaux, Burgundy, cognac, in fact everything that’s made the reputation of France in the world.
Christopher Merret, an English physician, who first described the process of adding sugar to a wine to carbonate it by creating a second fermentation. He documented what is now known as the “method Champenoise” in a scientific paper in 1662, although he did not claim to have invented it.
Fizzy white wine only became popular and the distinctive wine of the Champenoise region much later in the 19th century. The high pressure in bottles of champagne wine often caused them to explode or the corks to pop which led to it being dubbed “the devil’s wine”. The muselet the wire cage to prevent the cork from popping was only invented in the 19th century.