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Brief History of Champange

Champagne is discovered by Pierre Perignon, a Benedictine monk. Dom Perigon is the first who quit worrying and start perfecting the annoying bubbles that developed in the bottles of the wine cellars at the Abbey of Hautvillers which he was put in charge in 1688. The carbon dioxide retained in the bottle following a second fermentation of residual sugar by live yeast that had remained from the original fermentation. At the abbey, it was unintentional. At Reims, there was early cold weather which stopped the fermentation before it was completed. However, fermentation resumed in the warm spring, after winter bottling.

Dom Perigon substituted stronger glass bottles, developed by the English as many of his bottles exploded. This was due to the bottle fermentation gas which increased the air pressure in the bottle. He also experimented on the wooden or oil-soaked hemp bottle stoppers in use at the time.

In 1805, Barbe-Nicole Cliquot Ponsardin took over her late husband's winery after his death. Madame Cliquot was dedicated to perfecting what Dom Perignon had begun. She was the one who developed the mushroom-shaped champagne cork we use today. She also invented riddling, which is essential to the production of authentic Champagne. Madame Cliquot's house still turns out excellent Champagnes under the name "Veuve Cliquot. " – Veuve means Widow

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