A word travels
Where does the word Sekt come from? Sherry, Shakespeare, and a legend
The word Sekt comes from sherry. In German, Sect was once the name for sweet Spanish wine, derived from the English sack and ultimately from the Latin siccus, meaning dry. Only in the 19th century did the word shift to sparkling wine. The story of the actor Ludwig Devrient is an anecdote without evidence.
Sekt and sherry: the origin of the word
In 16th- and 17th-century England, a popular imported wine was called sack. This referred to wines from Spain and the Canary Islands, chief among them sherry from Jerez. The name traces through the French sec back to the Latin siccus, meaning dry. The word entered German as Sect or Seck and likewise referred to sherry and related wines.
In Germany, sparkling wine was long simply called Champagner, even if it came from Esslingen or the Rhine, or it was called plain Schaumwein (sparkling wine). Over the course of the 19th century, the word Sekt gradually shifted to mean the sparkling wine itself. There is no exact date for this, since words migrate slowly. By the 20th century, the new meaning was common usage, and a different word was needed again for sherry.
Ludwig Devrient and "Bring me sack, you rogue!": the legend
The best-known explanation is set in Berlin. According to legend, in 1825 the actor Ludwig Devrient called out a line from Shakespeare's Henry IV at the Lutter & Wegner wine tavern: "Bring me sack, you rogue!" In the play, the character Falstaff constantly demands sack, translated into German as Sekt. The story goes that the waiter, in response, brought him his usual drink—and that was Champagne.
It's a charming scene, but there is no contemporary evidence for it. Nor does it explain why an entire language region would have adopted an outburst from one wine tavern. A gradual shift seems far more plausible: the word for a fine imported wine transferred to another fine wine that was likewise bought for festive occasions. The Devrient story works well as an anecdote, but it doesn't hold up as an explanation for the word.
The Treaty of Versailles: why German sparkling wine isn't called Champagne
The word was cemented by a peace treaty. Up until the First World War, German producers frequently sold their sparkling wines as Champagner. The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 obligated Germany, under Articles 274 and 275, to respect the appellations of origin of other nations for wine and spirits. Champagne and Cognac were the most prominent cases, and they became off-limits for German products as a result.
German producers thus needed new names. For brandy distilled from wine, Weinbrand became the standard; for sparkling wine, it was Sekt. Sekt subsequently became the binding German term, with secondary sources citing 1925 as the key year. The principle behind this still applies today and is now enshrined in EU law. Only wine that comes from Champagne and is made according to its rules may be called Champagne.
What Sekt legally means today
The old word for sherry has become a legal term. Today, Sekt is the German-language designation for quality sparkling wine, a category under EU wine law. Quality sparkling wine requires at least 3.5 bar of pressure, carbon dioxide exclusively from fermentation, and a minimum production period. In Austria too, quality sparkling wine is called Sekt, and there is an additional tier system there for Sekt with protected origin.
The word alone says nothing about where the grapes come from. A Sekt made in Germany can be produced from base wines sourced from other EU countries. Only Deutscher Sekt is made from base wines of German origin, and Sekt b.A. comes from a specific German wine region and carries an official quality control number. Anyone who wants to know where the wine in their glass comes from should not rely on the word Sekt alone, but read the accompanying details. The name tells a story; the label reveals the origin.