Saint-Pierre’s Abbey and its church, St. Sindulphe (photo), are located on the edge of the village of Hautvillers, a few kilometres from Epernay. In the church, under a marble slab opposite the choir, is the tomb of Dom Pierre Pérignon, the father of champagne. Cellarer of the monastery and brilliant oenologist, the Benedictine monk perfected, around 1681, the method of wine ‘champagnisation’. A visionary, he developed revolutionary viticultural and oenological techniques. Served at the court of Versailles, his “corkscrew wine” was greatly appreciated by the King Louis XIV.