Dom Perignon
DOM PERIGNON RECENTLY a letter written to the New Republic put forward the opinion that prohibition is really a Catholic device, owing to the fact that "so many other prohibitory and restrictive...
...And Saint Thomas, who is likely to be strict in such matters, arrived at this very sensible conclusion: 'the vice of gluttony does not lie in the quality of that which one consumes, but in concupiscence not regulated by reason.' One is therefore permitted to take pleasure in a savory meal, and I believe the same principle may be applied to the wine served with that meal...
...DOM PERIGNON RECENTLY a letter written to the New Republic put forward the opinion that prohibition is really a Catholic device, owing to the fact that "so many other prohibitory and restrictive laws still find a natural home" in the Church...
...Some would have it no bigger than a thimble...
...for others it is a veritable schooner...
...Although we read that wine is not at all a becoming beverage for monks," he said, "it is certain that men of our time will not accept this doctrine...
...The monks were, of course, interested in preparing the best obtainable sacramental wine...
...Once again ignorance is the source of woe...
...Had not the Benedictine attitude toward wine been misunderstood...
...But we hasten back to Dom Perignon, who was in every respect an admirable religious...
...That, you are aware, is excess...
...After this it is important to get one's bearings...
...It seems as if this great Benedictine cellarer had first (roughly speaking, about 1650) succeeded in making a wine "of a whiteness and a limpidity never known before...
...Few men have so well combined genius and sanctity...
...Dom Perignon not only invented champagne, but devised the proper kind of bottle for its keeping and just the right glass from which to quaff its bubbling deliciousness...
...And experience teaches us that all who really know vintages are sober men...
...When one bears in mind that France is now offering a prize for a respectable drinking song, averring that nothing worthy of the cause has been written for fifty years, one sees to what depths modern civilization has tumbled...
...The cellarer of Haut-villers," says Dom Chauvin, "had reason to rejoice...
...To all of which we say Amen...
...Volstead...
...And really: was it not better to have bottled up the sun, in honor of the Creator of all good things, than to have sat as "roi du soleil" on a plush-covered throne ? We shall drink (when we can) to the memory of Dom Perignon...
...and of course there has been a great deal of argument about the dimensions of the unknown "hemine...
...He served as cellarer during forty-seven years, which is all the recommendation his character requires...
...More important possibly was Saint Benedict's idea of what the cellarer should be like: "Wise, mature of character, a man fearing God, who shall be to the whole community as a father...
...One of the most amiable commentaries on this queer notion we have seen is the address delivered by Dom Chauvin, prior of Sainte-Marie in Paris, on the occasion of the third centenary of Dom Perignon...
...He had managed to create the one among all the products of France which best exhibits the qualities of the land...
...Moreover he was a writer of parts...
...The Rule declares that one "hemine" of wine shall suffice for a day...
...Dom Chauvin, however, took advantage of his opportunity...
...And it is truly and justly to be feared that after another possible decade of prohibition, not a sober person will remain in all the breadth of these United States...
...Limpidity, light, finesse, vivacity, charm, a touch of malice, the feeling for nuances, verve, warmth that is cordial but nevertheless delicate and discreet- does not the whole of France smile radiantly in the glass, when a bottle of champagne is opened...
...He became completely blind...
...Nothing could be too good, too pure, for the chalice brimming, after consecration, with the Blood of Christ...
...But Saint Benedict was also a prudent ruler, who may be said to have abolished in his communities the legislation with which the Egyptian anchorites had anticipated Mr...
...Having leisure for pleasant meditation, he could review in the presence of God the years of service he had rendered, thinking over the trials through which he passed and the blessings with which he had been favored...
...Far be it from me," declared Dom Chauvin, "to pronounce a eulogy of gourmandise...
...Providence showered upon him the supreme grace of a retreat preparatory for death," we are told...
...and so we agree that it should be drunk moderately, not to satiety, because it has the power of bowling over even the sage...
...Finally, at the age of seventy, he went to sleep peacefully in the Lord, while the reign of Louis XIV was closing in melancholy pain...
...This wholly lovable though austere Benedictine, in charge of the cellar at Hautvillers, invented champagne...
...Forty-seven years of executive endeavor completely satisfactory to his brethren...
...Indeed only the abbot has more importance than this custodian of the vaults...
...He is therefore entitled not merely to homage but to a homily as well...
...Then, in a manner we cannot explain, he suddenly hit upon the recipe which made his district famous, moved the gourmets to tears of joy, and paved the way for an industrial success which the rest of the world has envied...
...And may those who write letters to the New Republic be confounded in their ignorance...
Vol. 11 • February 1930 • No. 14
