All Series I stories

Story Plate IV, from Episode 3

Champagne

In 1668 Dom Perignon took charge of the wine at Hautvillers Abbey and spent years fighting the bubbles that burst his bottles. England solved it: a 1615 law made glassmakers burn coal instead of wood, and the stronger glass could hold the fizz.

Source

Hugh Johnson, The Story of Wine; Stephen Skelton, The Knight Who Invented Champagne

On the plate

Hautvillers, London, 1615, 1668