Champagne was developed in England long before it was popularised in France, a new documentary has claimed. The show, Sparkling: The Story of Champagne, reveals that a 1676 play called The Man of Mode includes “the first mention of sparkling champagne anywhere in the world”. The director claims he has “documentary proof to the British claim that the Brits were drinking sparkling champagne years before Dom Perignon, the ‘Father of champagne’”, developed his winemaking techniques in northeast France.

My take:  Wine has been imported from France, Spain and Portugal since medieval times.  Who knows how, where or when champagne was developed, but the likelihood is that Dom Perignon was just a first class marketer and that the actual history of champagne goes back centuries, un-advertised.