Fabrice

Hi Joe,

Re: your contribution in The Juice, you may want to look into the well-established and documented history of Limoux, in the south of France. I have not done factual verification myself but I have been told multiple times that the locals have found the recipe for sparkling wine on ancient Roman tablets in archeological digs of local Roman villas. The story goes that Dom Perignon learned of the recipe as he crossed over from Spain on his way up to Champagne. Again, I am not a historian, so I am not 100% certain of the veracity of these stories.

Let me know if you are able to investigate and verify – or prove me wrong.

Thank you for your time.

• 1WineDude

  
  Tuesday, 3 January, 2012 at 12:08
  

  Thanks, Fabrice – I didn't know about that Roman connection but it is fascinating stuff! The Juice Quiz was more a question about one of the possible explanations (I am sure that there are dozens) for the genesis of intentionally creating Champagne (i.e., turning wine from Champagne in France fizzy), but I might look into the Roman connection for a future 1WD article. Cheers!

• 1WineDude

  
  Tuesday, 3 January, 2012 at 12:11
  

  I should add that I would be VERY surprised if the Dom part of that Limoux tale were true; most sources I referenced indicated that the good Dom almost certainly would have tried to arrest the secondary fermentation caused by the cool climate in Champagne, since it would have destroyed many bottles of inventory due to the weaker glass bottles made at the time, versus the sturdier glass bottles developed much later.