TIL It takes approximately 75000 flowers, which need to be plucked by hand, to make one pound of Saffron. This is why the spice is so expensive.

The British were the first to start seeing the carbonation as desirable. But fizzy wine has been around since wine was first made. It was seen as undesirable, as it would rupture casks and bottles due to the carbonation.

The long and short of it is no one liked sparkling wine until the 17th century, when several casks were shipped from the Champagne region of France to England. The English would then re-bottle the booze into smaller glass containers for sale.

Two things helped it catch on. The English were able to make thicker and stronger bottles than the french. And the English "rediscovered" cork stoppers. Apparently, the Romans invented them, but they were forgotten about for a while. This allowed for a strong enough container to contain the fizz, as well as a porous stopper to let some of the gas vent.

So the English had a big hand in making sparkling wine popular. But they didn't create it per say.

/r/todayilearned Thread Parent Link - britannica.com