In his day, the fermentation of wine in the bottle, which produces sparkling wine, was a huge problem for winemakers. When colder weather arrived in autumn, the fermentation process would sometimes halt before all the fermenting sugar in the wine had been converted into alcohol. If this wine was bottled at this stage, it literally became a time bomb. When the weather warmed in spring, the remaining yeast would begin to work again, producing carbon dioxide, which would at least force the cork out of the bottle and often cause the bottle to explode, setting off a chain reaction in nearby bottles.
This posed a danger to workers and sometimes destroyed an entire year's worth of wine production.[citation needed]
Dom Pérignon sought to prevent this imperfect fermentation and introduced several improvements that are still in use in the Champagne region today, such as the extensive blending of wines from different winemakers.