On the day Dom Perignon shouted to his fellow Benedictine monks in the Abbey of Hautvillers “Come quick brothers, I am tasting the stars!” little did he know that he had just changed the wine world forever. Dom Perignon was the legendary monk in the Champagne region who first experimented with blending different grape varieties in the 17th century to obtain a rounder, more complex and interesting wine by drawing from the best characteristics of each varietal. Because of the colder winters in Champagne, wine had to be bottled before it had reached peak fermentation which would be re-awakened upon the arrival of spring, due to the residual yeasts within the bottles, as temperatures rose. The result – bubbles! And lots of them…

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