Where was the first-ever sparkling wine made?

snuiteke

The Méthode Champenoise involves many specialized steps in both viticulture and enology has taken centuries to evolve, through the contributions of scores of inventors, innovators, and workers, both famous and nameless. Modernization and refinement of the "traditional" sparkling wine process continues to this day, although its beginnings are in antiquity. Around the 1690s, a Benedictine monk named Dom Perignon made some very significant developments as cellar master at the Abbey of Hautvillers in Epernay. His celebrated remark "I am drinking stars" brought him great fame, but Dom Perignon did not, in fact, "invent" Champagne. There is even a possibility he may have uttered his phrase, not out of jubilation, but rather from remorse. It is fairly certain that Frere Perignon long attempted to find a way to remove or prevent the bubbles, before he accepted and embraced them. His innovations of selective harvesting and blending probably were experiments towards this end. His early contributions did provide the impetus to eventually develop modern Champagne. http://www.winepros.org/wine101/sparkling.htm Oct 06 09, 6:56 AM