CHAMPAGNE

The British tend to view champagne as bubbly, white wine, rather than as any produce of the Champagne region.

The claret that was produced in the Bordeaux was mostly shipped to Britain and the United Provinces. Very little of it was drunk in Paris. However, the character of the wines that were drunk in the city underwent a parallel shift towards becoming more robust. The still wines of champagne lost market share to pinot noirs that were being produced in Beaume and C te d Or. In 1701 the seigneur de St-Evremond was bemoaning the way in which the wine producers of Champagne were trying to follow the fashion for more full-bodied wines. In 1694 King Louis XIV's physician stated that champagne was too acidic for the royal digestion and that in future the king should only drink burgundy.

The introduction of glass bottles helped to revive champagne's fortunes. In the 1630s Sir Kenelm Digby had taken to storing wine in glass bottles. By 1670 the practice had been adopted in the United Provinces; Rotterdam was the principal entrep t of the European wines and spirits trade. During the early decades of the 18^thC bottles began to be used in the French wine trade; their use was described as being in the English fashion . In the mid-1720s glass bottles began to be produced as Sainte-Foy-la-Grande to service the Bordeaux region. In 1752 a bottle making facility was established in Burgundy. That bottles could be sealed meant there was a far lower spoilage rate that when it was stored in barrels. Wine became something that could be kept beyond Easter.

When champagne was stored over winter it changed from being a still wine into becoming sparkling one. This because the coldness of the cellars in which it was stored caused the fermentation process to slow down, and sometimes even halted, during the winter. It would restart in the spring. Dom Pierre P rignon (1638-1715) was the cellar master of the Benedictine Abbey of Hautvilliers in the Marne valley. He devoted considerable energy to try to remove the bubbles from champagne. However, the practices that he developed in his effort to do were adopted by other vineyards and led to an improvement in the quality of champagne. The porous nature of barrels meant that bubbles usually disappeared if the champagne was stored in one. When the wine was placed in bottles the carbon dioxide was unable to escape.

Sparkling champagne appears to have been something that English consumers embraced before its French makers did. In 1661 the seigneur de Saint-Evremond was received into King Charles II's court. He became a champion of fine eating and champagne drinking. His championship of wine was copied by many members of the royal circle. It was decanted into bottles. The result was fizzy wine. The English drinkers drank the novelty with pleasure. By the late 1670s it had become a treat that middle-class Londoners sometimes indulged themselves in.

In the 1680s some French wine drinkers were sampling sparkling champagne. However, it did not become popular until the 1710s when it became known that the Regent favoured it. The wine was regarded as complementing dishes that had been prepared in Massialot's style of cuisine. Voltaire was partial to it.¹

In the 1720s the champagne producers appreciated that it was in their material interest to produce some sparkling wine. However, it remained only part of their output. It sold for a hefty premium.

A factor in this premium status was that, until the 1830s, between 10% and 80% of champagne bottles exploded while they were stored. The explosions stopped when a device was invented that enabled the wine's sugar content to be assessed accurately.

It became apparent that storing wine in bottles furnished it with an opportunity to develop aromas and flavours that were not present in its youthful iteration. This was not something that people in the 17^thC had appreciated. This was despite the fact that it was known that the Roman's had sealed wine in sealed amphoras and then stored it. In the 1720s it was possible for a Frenchman such as Claude Arnoux to first appreciate that, as the result of drinking burgundy in London, it could be improved by aging.

In 1861 the tax on champagne was reduced.

The 7^th Earl Beauchamp (1872-1938) was of the view that to not decant champagne into jugs was middle-class.

¹. Voltaire spent time living in London.

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill drank copiously. At breakfast it was whisky and soda and at lunch champagne and brandy. He once stated that I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me. His friend the newspaper editor C.P. Scott (1846-1932) commented that Churchill could not have been an alcoholic because no alcoholic could drink that much.

Of champagne, Churchill felt moved to comment of champagne, In victory you deserve it, in defeat you need it.

He was partial to Pol Roger.

See Also: WINSTON CHURCHILL

Website: www.polroger.co.uk/champagne/cuvee-sir-winston-churchill

London Variety

Johann-Joseph Krug was a native of Mainz. He entered the service of a small champagne house that was located in Epernay. On his employers behalf, he visited London. The city gave him an opportunity to sample a far larger range of champagnes than he had ever previously had the opportunity to taste. He soon appreciated how similar most of them were. Therefore, he decided to establish his own business that would make a distinctive version of the wine. In 1843 he founded it in Rheims.

Website: www.krug.com

A Questionable Prescription

In her final years the novelist George Eliot (1819-1880) suffered from a renal complaint. A physician prescribed her a pint of champagne a day.

Location: 4 Cheyne Walk, SW3 4HH (orange, turquoise)

Secondary Fermentation

It is possible that the champagne technique was invented by Christopher Merrett (c.1614-1695), a West Country scientist. He devised a secondary fermentation technique for cider, as well as using bottles to hold the liquid. He delivered a paper to the Royal Society stating what he had done. The French Benedictine monk Dom Perignon (c.1638-1715) developed his method subsequently.

Location: Crane Court, EC4A 2EJ (red, yellow)

See Also: MONEY Decimal Currency

The Working Classes

Aneurin Bevan (1897-1960) was a mining union leader who became a Labour M.P., a Cabinet minister, and the founder of the National Health Service. It is reputed that upon one occasion he remarked, while sipping champagne in the Caf Royal, Nothing is too good for the working classes .¹

Location: Caf Royal, 68 Regent Street, W1B 5EL (red, pink)

¹. As a young man, Bevan had had a strong stammer that he had overcome. He was once asked how he had done this. By torturing my audiences , he replied.

David Backhouse 2024