Champagne’s Secret History: A Sparkling Tale of Invention

There is a story that not everyone knows and that dates back to the distant Middle Ages, when the first great trade routes were born, which led the indomitable explorers to discover the world outside the cradle of Europe. This history connects our country to the characteristic French region of the same name, from which, today, we import the best Champagnes and from which the legendary golden wine rich in bubbles comes.

The evolution of the Via Francigena over time, with the emergence of new routes and its fragmentation into different itineraries, reflects the dynamics taking place during the medieval period, including economic changes and shifts of power towards new regions.

The street of trade and culture

This route soon became the main connection between the north and south of Europe: a canal through which merchants, armies, and pilgrims passed and which, over time, contributed to the creation of European cultural unity.

Indeed, the very fact that the road connected the richest regions of those times, i.e., Flanders, Italy, and the Champagne Fairs, made it an increasingly commercial route along which new trading centers were always appearing.

Well, along the trade routes towards France and the rest of Europe, Champagne wine had already been circulating since the Middle Ages, but, at that time, it was still without bubbles. The addition of the panache that we all know was born, like most inventions, through a fortunate coincidence of situations.

Champagne bubbles were born

Towards the end of the 15th century, in fact, temperatures dropped suddenly, freezing large masses of water and causing many difficulties for transport, such as that of the Thames or the canals of Venice. In French Champagne, the frost interrupted the fermentation of the sugars found in the bunches, that is, the process by which the transformation into alcohol occurs.

Since the French aristocracy did not like sparkling wines, they asked the Church to solve the problem, and it is here that, probably, the recipe on how to obtain sparkling wines began to circulate along the paths of the Via Francigena. There are various testimonies showing that, unlike the French royals, Europe enjoyed adding bubbles to wine.

Among these, there is the one concerning the reign of Charles II (1660–1685), during which, probably, sparkling wine had already existed since 1400. Here, the process by a certain Christopher Merret involved the addition of sugar to the wine, a method that gave a slight hint of carbonation and a higher alcohol content.

And in Italy?

Unfortunately, there is no in-depth documentation capable of tracing an exact historiography of how things went in Italy. Today, we know that Carlo Gancia, a well-known name, wanted to experiment with the champenoise method on local Piedmontese grapes at the turn of the nineteenth century.

The literature, however, remains quite uncertain in attributing the respective paternity. Without the Via Francigena and the first trade fairs held in Champagne, there would not have been the fortunate circulation of ideas and products that gave birth to some of the most important inventions still in use today.