It’s been a bone of contention for centuries, but now the French boss of champagne brand Taittinger has reignited the age-old debate over who invented the drink with a shocking admission.
Pierre Emmanuel Taittinger He told the French newspaper Le Figaro The English were the first to create champagne, but he claimed they did so “by mistake.”
Taittinger said Benedictine monks were supplying England with red and white wines from Champagne, a historic province in northeastern France.
“The English left these cheap, still wines on the docks in London and they cooled down, so they began to undergo a second fermentation,” Taittinger told Le Figaro.
The secondary fermentation process in the bottle creates carbonation that gives Champagne its characteristic bubbles.
“Like all great mistakes, it led to a great invention,” he said, adding that England is a big market for Champagne.
Only wines made from grapes grown and harvested in the Champagne region and produced under a strict set of rules can bear the Champagne name.
For a long time it was believed that the French monk Dom Pierre Perignon had invented Champagne in the 17th century, but it was later discovered that Perignon was not involved in enhancing the secondary fermentation that produces the bubbles, but in deliberately stopping it.
In 1662, English physician and scientist Christopher Merret documented in an article how adding sugar to wine triggers fermentation in the bottle and produces its distinctive effervescence.
Initially perceived as a flaw, the wine’s distinctive bubbles became popular with drinkers around the world, earning the French wine region its distinctive reputation for great sparkling wine in the 19th century.
But Taittinger’s comments credit the English with being the first to appreciate the sparkle: “Because the English have a bit of a crazy side, they invented the whole thing,” he said. “They invented the consumption of champagne.”
