Dom Perignon

The Benedictine monk Dom Perignon (Pierre Pérignon, 1638 - 1715) made a decisive contribution to the refinement of winemaking methods in Champagne. As cellar master and procurator of Saint-Pierre d'Hautvillers Abbey between 1668 and 1715, he not only oversaw the abbey's high-quality vineyards, but also other neighbouring vineyards as well as fishing rights and windmills. Hautvillers Abbey was already known for its fine wine, also enjoyed tax advantages and received regular tributes or dîme in the form of money, grapes and/or wine.

The author Emile Roche notes that of the abbey's entire wine stock before the French Revolution (enough for 280 thousand bottles), only an eighth of this wine came from its own vineyards and the rest was attributable to the damailgen dîme. The famous wines, which ultimately bore the name of Hautvillers Abbey, thus came not only from the abbey's own vineyards, but also from several other regions such as Pierry, Avize and Mesnil sur Oger.

It was precisely this natural diversity of the vines and wines supplied, caused by different grape varieties, locations and qualities, combined with the desire to reliably produce exquisite wine every year despite unpredictable climatic conditions, that must have presented Dom Perignon with an extremely complex challenge. ImageHe therefore devoted himself intensively to studying the characteristics of the different wines, the climate and the soil conditions, and successfully created qualified blends that guaranteed an almost constant, high quality of wine year after year. The concept of the cuvée, which is still largely the basis of the always reliable quality of Champagne today, was thus born.

Dom Perignon also succeeded in reliably producing white wine from dark-coloured grapes. He also promoted the change in bottle stoppers in Champagne from inferior wooden and hemp stoppers to oak corks (as had long been common in England). Dom Perignon thus contributed significantly to the foundation of high-quality champagne production, although his endeavours were primarily directed towards the production of exquisite still wines rather than sparkling wines. Although the perfection of sparkling champagnes was not achieved until many decades after Dom Perignon, lightly sparkling wines from Champagne had long been known and were already highly popular abroad (see also Saint Evremond).

Dom Perignon is said to have exclaimed at the time: "Brothers. Come quickly. I'm drinking stars!" It is debatable whether this was an exclamation of his enthusiasm or his disappointment at the time. ImageIt should also be noted that Dom Perignon shared this crucial period in the development of champagne with other extremely talented people who were obviously also in contact with each other, such as Frère Oudart, cellar master of the Abbey of Saint-Pierre aux Monts de Châlons, Dom Thierry Ruinart, who was a Benedictine monk in Hautvillers at the same time as Dom Perignon, and the famous winemaker Claude Moët, whose enormous savoir faire or know-how in the proper preparation of exquisite wines, among other things, was already well known at the time.

ImageIn 1823, shortly after the French Revolution (1789 - 1799), the house Moët & Chandon, currently under the management of Jean-Remy Moët (1758 - 1841, grandson of the legendary Claude Moët), bought the abandoned Hautvillers Abbey and associated vineyards. In 1930, the house Moët & Chandon acquired the still unused Dom Pérignon brand from the house Mercier and produced the fantastic prestige cuvée Dom Pérignon in 1936. This excellent champagne is now so famous worldwide that in the USA, for example, it is enough to simply mention 'Dom' in connection with champagne and almost everyone immediately thinks of 'Dom Perignon'.

 

 

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