Monk Dom Perignon - Carved Wooden Statue - and 41 similar items

*Bonanza does not require an account to buy/shop. You can use their cart and checkout. The buyer and payment protections are the same. This is for a beautiful hard to find hand carved statue of Dom Perignon himself. He is depicted in a bratty mood as his cup and bottle of champagne are empty. This is master level craftsmanship. This weighs a few pounds and is either solid oak or walnut. This has aged nicely with no missing wood. All coloring and shading is natural. This is a great size at 17" tall. This would be the ultimate wine cellar or bar mascot. Wiki: Dom Pierre Perignon(1638–1715) was a French Benedictine monk who made important contributions to the production and quality of Champagne wine in an era when the region's wines were predominantly still red. Popular myths frequently, but erroneously, credit him with the invention of sparkling Champagne, which did not become the dominant style of Champagne until the mid-19th century. "Come quickly, I am tasting the stars!" is supposedly what Perignon said when tasting the first sparkling champagne. The famous Champagne Dom Perignon, the prestige cuvee of Moet Chandon, is named for him. The remains of the monastery where he spent his adult life is now the property of that winery. Dom Perignon was a contemporary of Louis XIV. Biography Perignon 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. He was born in December 1638 and was baptized on 5 January 1639. He was the youngest of his parents' seven children, as his mother died the following summer. His father's family owned several vineyards in the region. As a child Perignon became a member of the boys' choir school operated by the Benedictine Abbey of Moiremont, studying there until 1651, when he went to study at the Jesuit college in Chalons-sur-Marne. When he was 17 he entered the Benedictine Order near the town of Verdun at the Abbey of Saint-Vanne, the leading monastery of the Congregation of St. Vanne. 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 St. Benedict. In 1668 he was transferred to the Abbaye Saint-Pierre d’Hautvillers, where he served as cellarer for the rest of his life. Under his stewardship, the abbey flourished and doubled the size of its vineyard holdings, while he worked to improve their product with the help of Dom Thierry Ruinart, a noted scholar of the abbey. When Perignon 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. That cemetery is now the property of the local commune. Influence on champagne production: Dom Perignon is buried in the church of Hautvillers, region Champagne. In Perignon's era, the in-bottle refermentation (now used to give sparkling wine its sparkle) was an enormous problem for winemakers. When the weather cooled off in the autumn, fermentation would sometimes stop before all the fermentable sugars had been converted to alcohol. If the wine was bottled in this state, it became a literal time bomb. 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. Nearby bottles, also under pressure, would break from the shock of the first breakage, and so on, which was a hazard to employees and to that year's production. Dom Perignon thus tried to avoid refermentation. He did introduce some features that are hallmarks of Champagne today, particularly extensive blending of grapes from multiple vineyards. In 1718, the Canon Godinot published a set of wine-making rules that were said to be established by Dom Perignon. Among these rules was the detail that fine wine should only be made from Pinot noir. Perignon was not fond of white grapes because of their tendency to enter re-fermentation. Other rules that Godinot included was Perignon'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. Rotten and overly large grapes were to be thrown out. Perignon did not allow grapes to be trodden and favored the use of multiple presses to help minimize maceration of the juice and the skins. Perignon was also an early advocate of wine-making using only natural processes, without the addition of foreign substances. Free shipping in the U.S. If there's a problem let me know and I'll work with you. My work keeps me away often so to be safe, handling time to get this shipped out is 1 week. SHIPPING ADDRESS: I can only send your item to the registered shipping address at time of payment.