Dom Perignon –“I see stars”

Dom Perignon statue For the majority of Champagne lovers, Dom Pérignon represents the best French wine regions offer. Dom Pérignon, the Benedictine Monk, has been credited with inventing champagne as we know it today, but there is more to this story.

Who was Dom Perignon ?

Dom Pérignon- Pierre Pérignon by his name before becoming a monk- was born to a clerk in about 1638, in the Champagne region of France. When he was 19, he joined the Benedictine monks and first served at the Abbey of Saint-Vannes in the town of Verdun. He transferred to Abbey of Hautvilliers near the town of Épernay in 1668, where he served as a cellar master until he died in 1715.

A little background on how Champagne is made

Wine has been produced in France before Dom Pérignon. In the years of in-bottle fermentation –which gives the champagne its sparkle-, the technique gave a lot of headaches to the winemakers. When the weather was cold during autumn it prevented the sugars from fermenting but during spring they started to ferment again, which meant the bottles were literally time bombs. The dormant yeast would start to produce carbon dioxide that pushed the cork out of the bottle, or wore, made the bottle explode. And that’s not all: it caused chain reactions and the bottles nearby would explode as well. That was both hazardous for the employees and for the year’s champagne production.

Dom Pérignon’s Legacy

Dom Pérignon tried to avoid the refermantation process. In 1718, Canon Godinot published a set of champagne making rules. Those rules are said to be established by Dom Pérignon. He was not fond of white grapes as they tend to enter refermantation, hence he said that fine wine should be made only from Pinot Nior.

Another rule is to aggressively prune the vines so that they grow no higher than 3 ft (90 cm) tall and produce a smaller crop. Harvest should be done early in the morning (cool and damp conditions). Rotten and large grapes are discarded.

Dom Pérignon was also an advocate of organic winemaking, using only natural substances, without adding any foreign substances.

Dom Perignon bottle 750 ml Dom Pérignon Champagne

The first Dom Pérignon Champagne was produced in 1936 by Moet et Chandon, which purchased Abbey of Hautville. The champagne only exists in 2 styles: the Brut and the Brut Rose and in 2 sizes: 750 ml bottle and 1.5 Liter bottle.

By now you are probably curious how much a bottle of Dom Pérignon would Champagne would cost you. As with any wine, the older the wine, the more it would cost. If you want to buy champagne bottled in 1993 you can pay as much as €600 for a 750 ml bottle. A bottle dating from 1999 would cost only €100 (750 ml).

Champagne Tours

The Moet et Chandon winery is a very popular tourist attraction. The day tour -which leaves from Paris- includes visiting the cellar (walking tour), drinking a glass of champagne, eating lunch in a charming village near-by and learning a lot about how champagne is made. Also, you can purchase Dom Pérignon champagne directly from where it’s produced. The day tour costs €136 per person.

Alternatively, you can visit just the cellar. A Visite Traditionnelle (traditional tour) costs €11 per person and includes one champagne tasting. The Visite Imperiale includes two different champagne tastings and costs €20 per person. The exclusive Visite Millesime which includes the tasting of two vintage champagnes costs about €25 per person.

Myth

The phrase “I see stars” (other version: ”Come quickly, I am drinking the stars”) has been attributed to Dom Pérignon as he drank champagne for the first time.