There’s something about Digby

I’ve just written two articles, one on vintage port and one on cider. I found it impossible to write either without mentioning Sir Kenelm Digby. The amazing Digby, who I’ve written about before, was the inventor of a special super strength glass bottle around 1633. Before Digby (or BD as I call it) bottles were much too fragile for storage purposes. One could store wine in barrels  but once opened, they would have to be drunk quickly before they oxidised.  BD the great wines were ones that thrived on oxidation such madeira, sherry and marsala. AD (oh hang on that’s probably blasphemous) wines could be kept free from oxygen and it was found that the best improved with age. Digby’s invention led to the creation of vintage port, champagne, Bordeaux as a wine for keeping, in fact the whole market in fine wine as an international commodity would not have been possible without Digby.

Sir Kenelm was a key figure in the early years of the Royal Society and its forerunner, Gresham College. What I love about him is that he straddles the line between the people we see today as the serious scientists, Wren, Hooke, Boyle etc., and dabblers such as Pepys. He was considered one of great minds of his time. He counted Newton, Galileo and Descartes as amongst his admirers and yet there is something clownish and lovable about him. He wrote a roguiesh memoir of his youth where he claimed to have been seduced by Marie de Medici. His recipe book: The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie Knight Opened is still a good read today.

After years as a half-forgotten eccentric, a footnote in history, it feels that now his time has come. An English sparkling wine has just been launched called Digby Fine English, an acknowledgment of his crucial role in invention of the champagne process. A few weeks ago I was sent a book proposal for a biography of him; the first devoted to the great man since the 19th century. Finally there is a novel, Viper Wine, out next year by Hermione Eyre about Digby’s wife, Lady Venetia Stanley, who Digby was accused of murdering in 1633 (he was cleared of all charges and by all accounts was devastated by her death.)

It has been suggested to me that there ought to be a Sir Kenelm Digby Society dedicated to keeping his memory and his spirit of amiable enquiry alive. The society could meet once a year to eat recipes inspired by his book, drink wines that he made possible and maybe campaign to put him on a bank note. Don’t you think he’d look lovely on a tenner?