Christopher Merret, 1662

The paper

The paper is titled "Some observations concerning the Ordering of Wines" and is kept in the Royal Society archive under the reference RBO/2i/14.¹ It was read to the newly formed Royal Society in London on 17 December 1662.^1,2 The Royal Society catalogue sums up its contents as details on preserving and fining wines and on correcting their colour, smell or taste.¹

The author

Christopher Merret (also spelled Merrett) was a physician.² In 1654 William Harvey nominated him as the first Harveian librarian of the Royal College of Physicians, the keeper of its library and museum.²

What it says about sugar

The key sentence reads: "Our Wine-coopers of latter times use vast quantities of Sugar and Melosses to all sorts of Wines".^2,1

The sentence speaks of all sorts of wines and does not mention bubbles. The Royal College of Physicians reads it as a description of adding sugar to make wine sparkle through a second fermentation in bottle.² On that reading, it is an early written account of sparkle made on purpose, several years before Dom Pérignon began his work at Hautvillers in 1668.^2,3

Note: the quoted text mentions sugar and molasses, not sparkle. The link to a second fermentation in bottle is the interpretation of the Royal College of Physicians, not words in the paper itself.^2,1

What came later

The same principle, sugar fed to yeast in a closed bottle, is the core of tirage and prise de mousse today. The steps that made it controllable came much later:

For the full sequence, see the timeline and the page on inventions.