Cotswolds Festival of Fizz will celebrate

Englishman who helped put the bubble into bubbly

The Cotswolds will be staging an event this summer to mark the 400th anniversary of
the birth of locally born-and-raised Christopher Merrett, who is attributed with playing
a major part in the creation of "fizz" - more than 20 years before Benedictine monk
Dom Prignon famously introduced champagne to the world in Epernay, France.
The Festival of Fizz in Winchcombe over the weekend of July 26
th
/27
th
is not only
being themed Covent Garden in the Heart of Winchcombe, but might also shake
the bottle once again in the great debate over who put the bubble into bubbly.
A self-taught scientist, naturalist and glassmaker, it is widely recognized that
Winchcombe-born Christopher Merrett was one of the people who helped to bring
together the technique and technology needed to make sparkling wine.
Writer and broadcaster Christopher Redman explains: The French claim Benedictine
monk Dom Perignon is the inventor of champagne. Sorry, but in 1662, some twenty
years before he claimed to be drinking stars, local hero Merrett went public in the
UK with the recipe for making bubbly - sharing with the world a technique that had
been perfected by English cider makers and vintners long before French monks got
in on the act.
Merrett observed how vintners added vast quantities of sugar and molasses" to
wines to make them brisk and sparkling and presented his findings to the recently-
formed Royal Society in December 1662.
Redman adds: What Merrett described was the deliberate process of provoking a
secondary fermentation of wine in the bottle to make it bubbly - the so-called
champagne method. That was two decades before Don Perignon, cellar master at
the Abbey of Hautvillers in Champagne allegedly made the same discovery.
Merrett, however, is being celebrated this summer for more than his contribution to
the art of champagne making. A keen student of glassmaking (he translated Antonio
Neri's The Art of Glass), his experiments and observations helped revolutionise glass
production in England so that bottles could be made capable of withstanding the
huge pressures created by secondary fermentation. Until that technical breakthrough
was made bottles would explode and champagne as we know it today was not a
practical commodity.
Aimed at putting the fun into fizz, the Festival to mark Christopher Merretts 400
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birthday will take place in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, over the weekend of July
26
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/27
th
. It will feature talks, demonstrations, music, entertainment, a chance to try
and buy samples of fizz, cider, perry, sparkling wines and soft drinks. A Family
Funday Sunday will include face painting, bubble cannons, foam party, competitions,
town guided walks to include flora and fauna, plus much more being organised.
Strawberry Hill, the nearest vineyard to Winchcombe, and Westons Cider of Much
Marcle are two companies to have already confirmed their involvement in the Festival
of Fizz.
Organiser, Christopher Sweet, says he has been overwhelmed by the interest and
ideas people in the town have put forward for the Festival, and has confirmed that
three of the main pubs and inns in Winchcombe - The White Hart, Plaisterers Arms
and The Lion - will also all be involved.
For more details, visit https://www.facebook.com/winchcombefestivaloffizz.
Further tourist information about The Cotswolds can be found at
www.cotswolds.com.
[Ends]
For all media enquiries, please contact:
Nicola Greaves
Tel: 01451 862003
Email: Nicola.Greaves@cotswoldsaonb.org.uk
or,
Christopher Sweet, Festival of Fizz Co-ordinator
Tel: 07858-513764
Email chris@demontforts.co.uk