Dom Thierry Ruinart was an intuitive, visionary, hardworking, and modest Benedictine monk who lived from 1657-1709 and was a contemporary of Louis XIV. A brilliant theologian and historian, at the age of 23 he left his home in Champagne to go to the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, one of the most influential centres of learning near Paris. While there, he was exposed to the city and court where he gained an awareness of a more worldly life. Specifically, he learned of a new “wine with bubbles,” not yet known as champagne, which was already popular among young aristocrats.