Champagne Was Invented in Guildford Claims Historian

Published on: 1 Apr, 2013
Updated on: 31 Mar, 2013

Could these grapes grown near Guildford end up in wine officially called Champagne?

French vintners are said to be furious with a claim from a London-based historian that Guildford in Surrey is the original home of champagne wine.

Rupert Twite, a specialist in medieval documents said: “I was examining some of the ancient pipe-rolls which were detailing a number the 14th-century tax records from the Guildford area.

“There is one one entry which, when translated from court French, still used by the Norman hierarchy at the time, says: ‘three guineas from wine produced by the field of sheep’.

“Well, the French for field is champ and for sheep is agneaux, so it was wine from ‘champagneux’. I think that there can be little doubt that this was the original ‘champagne’ wine.”

It is well known that the geology, or the terroir as the French call it, is very similar along the North Downs to that in the Champagne district of North East France.

Vines growing near Guildford last year on a terroir very similar to that in the Champagne area of France.

One local vintner, Bill Shute, bubbling with excitement over the news said: “I have already written to Brussels to tell them to stop allowing the French to call their plonk Champagne. We now know that the real stuff comes from Guildford.

“We have known for a long time that our champagne, as I can now call it, knocks spots of theirs.”

Charles Donnet, a cultural attaché at the French Embassy, was not so impressed. He said: “I really cannot take this seriously. Everyone knows that champagne is French. Sophisticated wine connoisseurs can always tell true French wine.

“If these claims are pursued we will use all our influence to block any change of nomenclature. French jobs are at stake and, also French culture. We will use the Court of Human Rights if we have to.”

Bill Shute responded: “I don’t go along with insulting the French by calling them frogs, but it does make me chuckle to see them hopping mad.”

It is expected that it might take twelve months for an official response to the claim i.e. April 1st 2014.

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