1 Wine Dude

A Serious Wine Blog For the Not-So-Serious Drinker

Menu
  • Home
  • About
    • New? Start Here!
    • PR & Samples
    • Press & What-Have-You
  • Wine
    • by badge
      • crowd pleaser
      • elegant
      • kick-ass
      • overachiever
      • sexy
    • Full Reviews
    • Mini-Reviews
  • Stalk
    • Follow me on News Break!
    • facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • pinterest
    • twitter
    • YouTube
  • Sign Up
  • Books
  • Services
  • Contact
Menu
1 Wine Dude

Debunking the Myths of Wine’s History (A Book Review… Sort of…)4 min read

Posted on October 19, 2009October 19, 2009 by 1WineDude

in wine books

I find wine history fascinating.  This is because I’m a geek not only about wine, but also about history in general – a trait I picked up in undergrad when I roomed with two good-natured History majors at Saint Joseph’s University.  My undergrad studies centered on English Lit., and so the combination of overdosing on fiction and being subtly influenced by my roomies has led to, well, let’s just say several years of reading fascinating non-fiction.

No surprise then that Rod Phillps’ A Short History of Wine should be right up my alley.  And while it is a very good read – I’d certainly recommend the book to budding wine geeks – I’d caution that it doesn’t exactly jump out of the gate with intoxicating speed.

Like a young Barolo, Phillips’ book starts dryly and slowly.  In fact, it took me several months of starting, stopping and restarting it before I finally got into the rhythm of A Short History of Wine.  I’m pleased as syrah-spiked punch that I did stick with it, though, because it offers up a dizzying array of well-researched and fascinating wine facts (along with subtle notes of Phillips’ opinion) on nearly every page – that is, every page after wine hits its heyday (Medieval times) as a precursor to the beverage and industry that we now know and love.

I thought that I’d offer up a couple of the mythbusting tidbits that Phillips’ deftly provides in A Short History of Wine, both to tempt those budding History buffs out there  and to( hopefully) clear up misconceptions about a few assumptions that even experienced wine lovers tend to make about the history of their favorite beverage.

Francophiles be warned, I’m going to bust up some French-related wine myths first.  Also, if you’re French, note that the next few paragraphs involve both the Dutch and the English.  Try not to let your thousand years of mutual aggression get in the way of the enjoyment, ok?…

Myth Number One: Dom Perignon invented Champagne.

Romantic?  Yep.  True?  Well, saying that Dom Pierre Perignon (the Epernay winemaker at Hautvillers’ abbey in the late 1600s) invented the sparkling wine we now know as Champagne is a bit like saying that the first person to ever eat snails invented escargot, which is also to say it’s almost totally false.

The good Dom gave us many winemaking advances (including a precursor to organic winemaking), but he spent most of his time trying to find ways to keep his wine from undergoing the secondary bottle fermentation that gives Champagne its bubbles. An unintended consequence of low winter temperatures in Champagne temporarily halting fermentation (only for the dormant yeast to continue their fermentation work when things warmed backed up in the Spring), those bubbles were a serious occupational hazard for the Dom – they regularly exploded bottles of wine (remember that glass bottles then were not as sturdy as they are today), which in storage then exploded other bottles. Not only was it dangerous, it ate into the abbey’s store of usable vino.

Recent research shows that (to what will undoubtedly be greeted by chagrin from hard-core Francophiles) it might have been the English who first invented sparkling wine production, in terms of a controlled method to deliberately induce a secondary fermentation and give wine bubbles.  Yes, the English.  It’s not a typo.

Myth Number Two: Bordeaux Invented Itself

Not to pick on the French here (ok, maybe just a little), but I am often amazed at the assumptions that spring up around Bordeaux in general.  Budding oenophiles often act as if the famous Bordeaux chateau rose out of the ground like the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, materializing instantly to create sublime wines from the magical spoken words of enlightened French vineyard landholders.

Wrong, Jack.  While the French have taken Bordeaux wine to new heights, much of what we now consider modern Bordeaux owes much of its development to the Dutch.

At about the same time that the Dom was trying to put a cork in his sparkling wine (both figuratively and literally) in Champagne, the Dutch had supplanted the English as the primary consumers of Bordeaux wines.  The Brits liked light reds (claret), but the Dutch preferred full-bodied reds and sweet whites – as long as both were strong.  The Dutch were among the first to identify that Sauternes, now legendary for its sweet white wines, was able to produce sweeter wines when their white grapes were left to hang into the Fall to maximize their sugar content.  And what promoted Sauternes to switch to white grapes in the first place?  Dutch consumer demand.

As for the red stalwart areas of today’s Left Bank Bordeaux reds – Graves and the Medoc – they were also products of Dutch ingenuity.  Along with their demand for wine, the Dutch brought land reclamation technology to Bordeaux, where they reclaimed marshy land along the banks of Bordeaux’s rivers.  That reclaimed land turned out to have alluvial soils, which makes for some kick-ass full-bodied red wine production. Voila, we have Bordeaux largely as we know it today.

So the next time that you enjoy a glass of Champagne with your sushi, or hefty Graves with your steak, or end the night with a little Sauternes, offer up a toast not only to the French but also to their Dutch customers.  And give a nod to Dom and Phillips while you’re at it.

Cheers!

(images: amazon.com, nytimes.com – modified by 1WineDude)

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Related

10 thoughts on “Debunking the Myths of Wine’s History (A Book Review… Sort of…)4 min read”

  1. trevor says:
    October 19, 2009 at 1:44 pm

    Thanks for some great information. I like your website!

    Trevor

  2. @weinwelt says:
    October 19, 2009 at 1:45 pm

    Thanks for some great information. I like your website!

  3. 1WineDude says:
    October 19, 2009 at 2:06 pm

    Cheers!

    Cheers!

    ;-)

  4. Francesco says:
    October 19, 2009 at 3:19 pm

    I believe the English were also very much involved in building up Bordeaux wine. The gironde river was an extremely important trading port back in the day. After all the the name clairet was the term given to the dark pink colored Bordeaux wine. Wine history is good stuff, and any wine dude and dudess should read up.

  5. David Honig says:
    October 19, 2009 at 5:11 pm

    Excellent. It is impossible to understand French wine, or France, without understanding that big chunks of it were British for a long time.

  6. 1WineDude says:
    October 19, 2009 at 5:20 pm

    Thanks!

    What's been amazing to me is finding out just how much the Dutch had their hands in formulating the foundation of the modern wine industry. That also played out in how Madeira came into being…

  7. Dylan says:
    October 20, 2009 at 9:38 pm

    Wow, Germany wasn't mentioned once here. I'm impressed, Joe. :-)

    1. 1WineDude says:
      October 20, 2009 at 10:02 pm

      Yeah – really needed to get the balance of power away from them in this one! :)

  8. Mitch says:
    October 20, 2009 at 9:55 pm

    great work,very interesting……you need to check out http://pardonthatvine.com/ it is the only other wine review website that I love and it is not competition because it is a video wine blog….enjoy.

    1. 1WineDude says:
      October 20, 2009 at 10:02 pm

      Thanks, SPAMer dude.

Comments are closed.

Dude’s New Books

Wine Taster's Guide Now Available!

“Bravo! Wine Taster's Guide is a perfect primer for both wine novices and learning enthusiasts." ―Evan Goldstein, Master Sommelier

Wine Taster's Journal Now Available!

"Wine Taster's Journal belongs in everyone's cellar… preferably wine-stained, dog-eared, and well-used.” ―Brian Freedman, wine/spirits/travel columnist

Get Some Wine

Popular Stuff

  • Wine Reviews: Weekly Mini Round-Up For December 21, 2020
    Wine Reviews: Weekly Mini Round-Up For December 21, 2020
  • Wine Reviews: Weekly Mini Round-Up For January 18, 2021
    Wine Reviews: Weekly Mini Round-Up For January 18, 2021
  • Wine in the Time of Coronovirus, Part 21: Touchable (Tasting Untouched By Light)
    Wine in the Time of Coronovirus, Part 21: Touchable (Tasting Untouched By Light)
  • The Ugly Truth, The Pretty Bubbles (Mailly Champagne Recent Releases)
    The Ugly Truth, The Pretty Bubbles (Mailly Champagne Recent Releases)
  • Carignan, My Wayward Son (Chile's Carignan Renaissance for NVWA)
    Carignan, My Wayward Son (Chile's Carignan Renaissance for NVWA)

About + Contact

Joe Roberts

Joe Roberts

Certified Specialist of Wine & WSET Advanced
Author, speaker, consultant, wine judge, & critic.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS Feed

Find Stuff

Sign up, lushes!

Join 36,559 other subscribers

Fine Print

This site is licensed under Creative Commons.

Code of Ethics and Privacy Policies.

Play nice!

Get The Guide

Wine Tasters Guide Footer
#1 New Release in Amazon's Wine Tasting category
This site uses cookies. Duh. Cookie Policy
©2021 1 Wine Dude
Yo yo YO!

Wine Tasters Guide InstagramWell, hello there!

If you like what you’re reading (and want to like more of what you’re drinking), consider subscribing.

If you’re up for a more immersive wine learning experience, check out my books and other services.

Cheers!

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.