Sparkling wine is one of life's great pleasures and shouldn't be reserved just for special occasions. For Lord Byron, it inspired poetry: "Champagne with foaming whirls, as white as Cleopatra's melted pearls."

Champagne, like most of the best things in life, was invented by mistake. But not the way we all think! I imagine we've all heard the stories about Dom Perignon opening the bottle, tasting the wine and proclaiming "I'm drinking stars!" And, of course, he's been credited with inventing it. In truth, he spent much of his career trying to make Champagne wine that wasn't fizzy!

We believe that wine has been made in the Champagne region of France since the time of Christ. It went through several upheavals, mostly war related, but the monastic movement in the 7th century cemented the region as a producer of wine, and the best wines of Champagne were regularly used in the coronation of kings. They came to rival the great wines of Burgundy to the south and, as in Burgundy, Pinot Noir was and is the dominant red grape of the region. In the 1600s, as they saw an opportunity to widen their markets, both domestic and export, they sought to increase quality. Here's where Dom Perignon enters the picture. He was brought in specifically to improve quality and he succeeded spectacularly. But, at this point, Champagne wasn't sparkling wine, at least not intentionally. It was meant to be a high quality still wine.

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