Who was the Englishman that invented the type of strong glass which makes a second fermentation of wine "in the bottle" possible and in doing so indirectly helped create the conditions to mass-produce modern "champagne"?

zbeckabee

Saturday, September 27, 2008 THE CLAIM by the French to have invented champagne was revealed as nothing but Gallic bluster yesterday. It was a 17th century cider maker from Gloucester who first came up with the idea. Christopher Merrett not only devi­sed the method of fermentation which gives champagne its sparkle. He also invented the stronger glass needed to stop the bottles exploding under pressure. Merrett delivered a paper to the Royal Society in London in 1632 setting out his discovery. And that was six years before Dom Perignon, the French monk generally credited with inventing champagne, was even born. http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/63380/It-s-official-the-British-invented-champagne http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Merrett Apr 24 09, 2:27 PM