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Women and Adversity:
Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin
Grande Dame of Champagne
When I told my nephew, actor Robert Wilde, that I write this blog, he said Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin (pronounced Barb-Nee’cole Klee’Ko Pone sar’ duh) was an entrepreneur who fit my requisites for Women and Adversity. He read a book about her and learned she perfected the taste of champagne. I enjoy a glass of the bubbly and decided to investigate this valiant woman.
Few women born in the 1700s gained fame outside the home, but Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin is one who did. Her father was a wealthy merchant in Reims, France, who arranged his daughter’s marriage to the son of another wealthy French merchant, Philippe Clicquot, who owned vineyards in addition to his other holdings. Barbe-Nicole, 21, married Francois Clicquot, 23.
Seven years later in 1805, Francois, whose father had given him control of the Clicquot assets, died of typhoid, although some reports state he committed suicide. The couple’s daughter, Clementine, was three. Whatever the case, Madame Clicquot asked her father-in-law to allow her to manage the business. He agreed if she completed an apprenticeship to prove she was capable of running it. She succeeded and became head of the business, which included banking, wool trading and champagne production. She concentrated on the champagne segment.
On July 21, 1810, she opened Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin. Veuve (pronounced vuv) means “widow” in French. Madame Clicquot had developed a way to eliminate the cloudy appearance of champagne with a method labeled “riddling.” With this system she inverted the bottle filled with champagne after the second fermentation in order to allow the sediment to gather at the cork. The sediment was removed without disturbing the wine so it maintained its bubbles and taste.
She earned the title “The Grande Dame of Champagne.” The distinctive yellow label is her signature champagne, Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut.
Bio
- Born December 16, 1777 in Reims, France
- June 10, 1798 – Married Francois Clicquot
- March 20, 1799 – Daughter Clementine born
Career
- July 21, 1810 – Barbe-Nicole launched her own company, Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin
- 1816 – Invented the ‘riddling’ process
- 1818 – Invented the first blended rose⸍ champagne
- Became known as Grande Dame of Champagne
Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin passed July 29, 1866 at the age of 88.
More Information
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/madame-clicquot-historys-champagne-pioneer/id1567153567?i=1000660313908
www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-widow-who-created-the-champagne-industry-180947570
Book: The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It by Tilar J. Mazzeo
My ebooks available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com:
Honoring 23 Black Women, Recognizing 23 Notable Mothers, Saluting 23 Faithful Suffragists
