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bottle without creating a dangerous liquid
explosive device. It was Dom Perignon
who introduced the dark grape Pinot Noir,
which he discovered was less volatile than
white grapes (the juice is immediately
separated from the skins to prevent color-
ing). He also advocated early morning har-
vesting, aggressive pruning, and smaller
yields, all accepted practice today in what
has become know as the champenoise
method . Furthermore, he was not blind,
but rather prone to blind tasting—testing
grapes and wine without knowing which
vineyard they came from, so as not to
influence his judgment. As for the famous
quote? Well that was just good, old-fash-
ioned advertising.
Dom Perignon is now one of the best-
selling labels of arguably the world's great-
est champagne house. When Moët &
Chandon bought the Abbey of Hautvillers in
1792, they promptly put the monk on the
label to sell more wine. The champagne
house's palatial headquarters can be vis-
ited in Epernay, the Champagne town
170km (105 miles) northeast of Paris. Dark
wrought-iron gates enclose a French classi-
cal facade, behind which is an expansive
courtyard of white pebble stones with a
beautiful flower bed at its center. A 1-hour
tour takes you deep inside the dungeonlike
cellars and back to the time of Napoleon
and the revolution. Established in 1743 by
Claude Moët, the winery was selling 2.5
million bottles by 1880. Its client list reads
like a roll call of European high society:
Madame Pompadour, Charles VII, Czar
Alexander II, the Duke of Wellington, Queen
Victoria. Yet the winery also looked after its
own and was one of the first to introduce
a form of social security for its workers.
Its 19th-century employee list included
cellar masters, cork cutters, clerks, coo-
pers, vineyard farmers, tinsmiths, needle-
women, basket makers, firemen, packers,
wheelwrights, and stable boys. Such a
list somewhat explains the high price of
its magnums.
The 20th century saw a period of mas-
sive growth for the winery, branching out
into nonwine pursuits and opening opera-
tions in far-flung places such as California
The Moët cellars in Epernay, France.
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