Dom Pérignon (monk)

Pérignon was born to a clerk of the local marshal in the town of Sainte-Menehould in the ancient Province of Champagne in the Kingdom of France.

The congregation was a reform movement of monastic life, and he followed a regimen of prayer, study and manual labor, as prescribed in the Rule of Saint Benedict.

When Pérignon died in 1715, as a sign of honor and respect, he was buried in a section of the abbey cemetery traditionally reserved only for abbots.

The most photographed statue of Dom Pérignon stands at the entrance to Moët & Chandon's headquarters in Épernay, though as of summer 2022, a significantly more artistic one was unveiled in Hautvillers.

The latter bronze integrates a very large glass champagne bottle into the figure's lower portion as well as a motif at its base which represents the trunk of the grape vine.

When the weather warmed in the spring, dormant yeast roused themselves and began generating carbon dioxide that would at best push the cork out of the bottle, and at worst explode, starting a chain reaction.

Other rules that Godinot included was Pérignon's guidance to aggressively prune vines so that they grow no higher than three feet and produce a smaller crop.

Harvest should be done in cool, damp conditions (such as early morning) with every precaution being taken to ensure that the grapes don't bruise or break.

The myth also helped distance Champagne from its associations with aristocratic decadence and transform it as a drink made from a monk's labor and persistence.