Dom Pérignon
When first published in 1998, the book became the only wine book to warrant a leader in a UK national newspaper ("The Guardian", October 14, 1998), for the first time revealing a 17th-century document proving that the English used a second fermentation to convert still wines into sparkling at least six years before Dom Pérignon arrived at the Abbey of Hautvillers, and nearly 40 years before the French claim that sparkling Champagne was invented. Although "Le Figaro" accused Stevenson of "trying to burn Dom Pérignon", the French were prompt to award it The Best Wine Book of 1998 at the Salon International du Livre Gourmand in Périgueux.