Right this moment, the identify Dom Perignon evokes instant visions of materialistic, borderline hedonistic extra. Arms clanging with bangles and watches price a small mortgage. Membership bouncers that appear like they’d have a good likelihood in opposition to John Wick your sneakers with disdain. Buckets of ice at weddings you wouldn’t make it by means of the door of and not using a waiter’s uniform on. It’s a quaffable standing image, a sign that you simply’ve, in some type, made it.
In brief, the final phrase anybody would use to explain Dom Perignon is “monastic.”
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But, that is precisely who Dom Perignon himself was. He wasn’t a suited, high-society vintner, however a easy Benedictine monk with a exceptional knack for making bubbly wine. He didn’t invent champagne, as is usually erroneously repeated, however he was accountable for huge developments in making it a wine of precise reputation. The identical champagne that serves as set dressing in music movies was cooked up by Perignon on the Abbey of Hautvillers in Epernay, France. It existed earlier than him, being invented by a lady whose identify can also be nonetheless within the champagne sphere, Widow Clicquot, however Perignon overhauled virtually the complete course of.
Unsurprisingly then, Perignon’s champagne was extremely valued throughout his lifetime as nicely, and shortly turned a favourite of French royals. You can even argue he had a hand within the rise of branding altogether, as he was among the many first winemakers to place their very own identify on the label as a substitute of a winery or area, which is not precisely humble. Nonetheless, as a lot clout as he might need had, he was content material to dwell in peace on the abbey, not rubbing elbows with the various wealthy followers of his product.
So, if on an important day today, you end up with a flute of Dom Perignon in hand, know that you simply’re honoring his reminiscence. And, in fact, as a result of human nature seeks to prey and kill something pure, that you simply’re fattening the pockets of Bernard Arnault, the literal richest man on the earth, who owns LVMH (Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton), which was created by a 1987 merger of Moet & Chandon, Dom Perignon and Hennessy.
From monks to mergers, in accordance with the trendy faith of cash. Cheers!
