Welcome to the Champagne’s Mafia, directed by Dom Pérignon in the small village of Hautvilliers, near Epernay. Legend or not, he should be behind Champagne and these famous bubbles. Then, follow the guide…

V’Insolite: “Hello Dom Pérignon, it’s a great honour to meet you. Sorry to stop your date with Miss Pommey. So, tell me about your process to understand why the bubbles in the Champagne.“

Dom Pérignon: “When I arrived in Saint-Pierre d’Hautvilliers’ abbey in 1668, there wasn’t a drop of alcohol anymore, nothing to put in my throat. I couldn’t touch women for a start, so if I can’t drink !!!”

V’Insolite: “But how did you have the idea to make Champagne?”

Dom Pérignon: “Actually, I came back from a “pilgrimage” in Limoux, to sunbathe and to tan, because Champagne isn’t a meteorological ecstasy ! There, people already made their sparkling wines (Note: named blanquette). Then, I thought why not at home ?

V’Insolite: “But you aren’t wine-grower ?“

Dom Pérignon: “Not at all ! But if I wanted to get back some cash to go to the Côte d’Azur, to sell wine was a good way.”

V’Insolite: “And more, you will see the prices of the rented flat today !?! Anyway, what’s about these bubbles ?“

Dom Pérignon: “In fact, the sparkling wine already existed for many years in England. They bought us a white still wine (Note: not sparkling), and then, they made themselves the effervescence, but not directly in the bottle. Me, according to what people say, I accidentally succeeded to create the effervescence in the bottle”.

V’insolite: “What do you mean by “accidentally” ?”

Dom Pérignon: “Before, to be simple, the cork was in wood. To be more beautiful and watertight, I sealed the bottles with beeswax. But the sugar from the wax flowed in the bottle, making a second fermentation and the effervescence !”

V’insolite: “Wait a minute Dom, what is the link between the fermentation and the effervescence ?”

Dom Pérignon: “A fermentation is produced when the sugar of the grapes are eaten by the yeast. This creates alcohol and carbon dioxid. Then, when this sugary wax flowed in the wine, the remaining yeast ate it, that increased the alcohol and created the carbon dioxid. But as the bottle was closed, the carbon dioxid dissolved inside the wine because it couldn’t escape. That’s why there is that pressure with these bubbles when we open a bottle: it’s the dioxid carbon which gets out !”

V’insolite “Okayyyyy ! But why “according to what people says” ?

Dom Pérignon: “Because that’s what I read, like a myth, but now I am too old to remember…However, I remember that I developped a stronger bottle to support the pressure and not to explose, and a cork to keep the Champagne’s aromas and freshness.”

V’insolite: “And the flute, also a myth ?” 

Dom Pérignon: “I think so. But it’s really beautiful. By the way, I learnt that the bubbles born in the glass because there are some impurities on the surface, where the dioxid carbon puts itself and releases in the form of bubbles.” 

V’insolite: “Thanks a lot for these explainations. Anyway, myth or not, you are really famous now with the Moët et Chandon’s cuvée named Dom Pérignon! Hello to Louis XIV, I know you are inseparable !

Dom Pérignon: “You know why ? Except the fact that we like to be drunk, we already have the same dates of life: I was born in 1638 and him in 1639, and we died the same year in 1715 ! Well, I have a date with Veuve Clicquot. You know, since she is alone, she needs a company…