The evolution of some wine — from still to one with bubbles — in the Champagne region of France was more an innovation of happenstance. Wine bottles would explode at random, earning the name “le vin du diable,” or the devil’s wine. Fizzy wine wasn’t desirable, and removing the fizz was the problem that the dom was trying to fix.

The first documentation of sparkling wine (in the Limoux region) was in 1531. A paper in 1662 described how winemakers would add sugar to give it sparkle — making it “different than any other drink in the world,” as Hans Koningsberger wrote in The Times in 1958.

Dom Pérignon did, however, develop the techniques that led to the development of modern-day Champagne. Call it fizz, bubbles or sparkles, we can thank the monk and his legacy for the “wine of happiness.”

Danielle Belopotosky contributed reporting.

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