Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin is a Champagne house founded in 1772 by Philippe Clicquot. At that time is was called Clicquot champagnes. He retired in 1801 and left the business to his son Francois Clicquot, who has just married Barbe Nicole Ponsardin in 1798.
In 1805 Francois died of typhoid at the young age of 30. His brother, Philippe wanted to liquidate the business by Francois, wife, Barbe Nicole, now a widow (or “Veuve”) decided to run the business. In the 1800s most businesses were run by men and at the time of Francois’ death Barbe Nicole was only 28 years of age with a young daughter.
At that time, the Napoleonic Code prohibited women from working, voting, earning money, or entering schools and universities without the consent of their husband or father. But widows were the only women in French society allowed to run their own business. Despite incredible backlash, she proved to the male members of family that she was capable of running the business by completing an apprenticeship course and in 1810, she launched her own company called Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin. She became the first woman to own a champagne house and the first woman champagne producer.
But her struggles were not over. At the time Barbe-Nicole took over the business, the vast majority of her champagne was exported outside of France. But because of a conflict between France and Russia, naval blockades prevented her from shipping her wine abroad and Czar Alexander I of Russia banned French products. In the face of international conflict, she continued to try to maintain strong business ties abroad and sent champagne anyways to Russia, convinced that peace would eventually prevail. She secretly snuck her champagne through the blockades to Russia. Her intuition paid off as eventually Napoleon was defeated, the French monarchy was restored and her champagnes were the first to be enjoyed by the Russians. The Russian appreciated her champagne and her friendship during these difficult years so much so that Czar Alexander I's brother, declared that Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin champagne would be the only kind he would drink. Madame Veuve Clicquot was a strong marketer and Veuve Clicquot champagne began being associated with Russian royalty, celebrations and high society.
She is responsible for the invention of riddling table, which allowed champagne to mature without being cloudy by having the dead yeast collect and then be removed at the tip of upside down bottle. Prior to this invention champagnes, would have to be poured from one bottle to another in a time consuming manner. The riddling table allowed champagnes to be produced quickly for mass consumption.
When Philippe Clicquot began producing champagne, he sold champagne wine with no labels on the bottles. Many wines/champagnes at that time were marked with initials on the bottle or the sealed was around the cork. In 1814, Madame Clicquot designed one of the first labels used for champagne. In the 1800s most wines were very sweet and Madame Veuve Clicquot used the yellow/orange label to distinguish her champagnes as a dry or “brut” style of champagne.
Their flagship wine, La Grande Dame is named after Widow Clicquot. Launced in 1972, this is the 24th vintage of La Grande Dame. It is only made in exceptional years and about 3 years each decade. The 2015 La Grande Dame is 90% Pinot Noir and 10% Chardonnay. Veuve Clicquot’s red wine grapes have always known to be the signature of their wines. La Grande Dame uses a blend of grapes from 8 Grand Cru vineyards. For the 2015 vintage, 6 Special boxes designed by Paola Paronetto house the champagne.
For more information about La Grande Dame, see the Veuve Clicquot website at www.veuveclicq...