The NY Times has a review of a biography of the Widow (Veuve) Clicquot
on line:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/bo...tml?ref=dining

Interesting reading:

"As much about Champagne itself as about the woman who helped elevate
it to celebrity status, “The Widow Clicquot” reveals that the wine’s
history is as filled with faux folklore as a glass of it is with tiny
bubbles. For one thing, Dom Pierre Pérignon did not invent it. The
oft-told fable is that Dom Pérignon, the cellar master at the
Hautvillers abbey, took a first sip and cried out to his fellow monks:
“Come quickly! I am drinking the stars!” A charming tale, but bogus.
Mazzeo says that for a decade after 1660, when Dom Pérignon gained
fame as a master blender, he steadfastly worked at ways to prevent
wine from developing bubbles. “In the 17th century,” she reports,
“winemakers were anything but delighted by the voluntary sparkle that
developed in their casks come spring.” Champagne did not even
originate in France. While Dom Pérignon was struggling to stamp out
bubbles, British oenophiles already were drinking sparkling wine made
from Champagne grapes. Why? Customers rich enough to buy whole barrels
realized they had to do something to keep their prize from turning to
vinegar. They put still wine from Champagne into sturdy British
bottles, sometimes with a little brandy to act as a preservative. At
some point, somebody realized that sugar bottled with the wine would
start a secondary fermentation, creating Champagne. Bubbly was not
invented; it was discovered by accident."

The book in question is "THE WIDOW CLICQUOT The Story of a Champagne
Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It" by Tilar J. Mazzeo.
--

modom