The Widow Clicquot

Im a big fan of sparkling wine–I like tasting it, looking at it, learning more about it, and of course, reading about it. So reading The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It was a must for me.

The book details the life of Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot, the Grande Dame of Champagne, who revolutionized the champagne industry while being a widowed single mother and one of the first women in the world to run an international business.

Written in a thorough, but accessible way, The Widow Clicquot (in French: Veuve Clicquot) details the life of this remarkable woman and her rise to international business leader with interesting information on the development of champagne (spoiler alert: Dom Perignon did not actually invent it), the French Revolution, life in France during the 19th century, and, of course, the personal story of Barbe-Nicole and her family.

The author admits to having difficulty finding information on this fascinating woman, but brings together an interesting portrait of a woman, a time period, and a product that has resounding effects today. (She also includes some information on which places are left from Barbe-Nicoles time to visit if you find yourself in Reims, too.)

I listened to the audio version (because its great listening to this while enjoying a glass) and found the narrator pleasant with excellent French pronunciations.

If youre a fan of the bubbly, youll like this book. If youre a fan of France, youll like this book. If youre a fan of strong women, youll like this book. Im a fan of all three, so Im going to celebrate the discovery of this book with a bottle!

Dear God. The worse pile of drivel ever. Im 65 pages in to a 185 page book and theres no widow. How is that even possible?!?
99% so far of whats written is speculation about her life & about how to make champagne. This book reads worse that a bad history professor.
Nothing is known about this womans early years. So instead of focusing on facts, and hello the WIDOW part, the author starts in her childhood years saying she could have done this or perhaps she did this or quite possibly knew this person.
The author knows nothing and is literally making things up for the sake of word count.
The only reason this could have possibly been a NYTimes best seller is cuz folks like me bought it and were excited to read it. Not because it was well written, had valuable/interesting info or even worth a read.
At least I bought a hard cover that will look nice on a coffee table. Hopefully this gets better. Again tho…page 65 out of 185 and no widow.

A must read for anyone that enjoys champagne. Not only does it tell the story of a woman struggling to run a business in a time of war when women were often treated like chattel. My favorite vignette was about when after trying to ship her champagne west and then east during the Napoleonic Wars her efforts to hide her wine behind walls when the Russian Calvary arrived at her chateau shouting for more champagne before they rode off to battle. A good read.

The Widow Cliquot is the direct translation of Veuve Cliquot, a champagne that has become world famous, the yellow label being reasonably priced and a bar favourite, while ‘La Grand Dame’ is the domaine’s star. This book is a well-written, easy reading biography of Madame Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin. She became a widow when her husband, Francois, died – ostensibly from typhoid but rumours about a suicide were also making their ways around. The Widow did not let them deter her, and from mid-way through the book, Mazzeo records the problems that the Widow faced – and surmounted – before the brand became the world renowned Veuve Clicquot champagne.

Chapter 14 is interesting in that it presents the later years of Barbe-Nicole, and her ‘financial marriage’ to Edouard Werle, who was given a fifty percent stake in the company, and the addition of his name to the company’s. Thereafter, the Veuve Clicquot empire spread.

“This is the heart of Barbe-Nicole’s story. A woman who lived with audacity and intelligence, who could look forward to the future and grasp the reins of her own destiny at a moment in her life when the natural thing to do would have been to retreat into grief and misery and a paralysis of inaction”- p 181

This is the story of a woman whose life spanned almost four revolutions in France over her 91 years. Barbe-Nicole Cliquot Ponsardin aka “The Widow Cliquot” bucked every expectation of a woman of her time (1777-1866) and became a wealthy entrepreneur in a world where women married well and retreated from society Widowed at 27, she found a head for business and with the power as a widow, built the empire of Cliquot and changed the world of wine, riding the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, marketing and labels, riddling racks to clear wine, copyrighting, blockade running…an adventurous life for a woman alone with children to raise. By the time of her death she had long outlived almost her whole family and left the most prominent Champagne Houses on earth

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member