The Widow Clicquot

20 years ago - backyard barbecue - drank a trans-formative Krug Rose '85 - perhaps the greatest bottle of Champagne ever produced - 

Didn't know then - but know now - as long as the memory of those sips last - I would be indebted to Barbe Nicole Cliquot - the how and why - detailed by Tilar J. Mazzeo's - The Widow Clicquot - The Story of a Champagne Empire and The Woman Who Ruled It - 

While the abbot - Dom Perignon - is usually credited as the father of Champagne - he in fact worked to remove the bubbles - It was Madame Cliquot who brought it to market - discovered and industrialized the practice of riddling - taking Champagne from an acquired taste of a super sweet cloudy brew - to the crystal clear excellence we experience today - she made it a product - 

A teenage aristocrat - Bare Nicole and her family skirted the French Revolution - emerging with their textile business and wealth largely intact - married - Ms Cliquot and husband pursued the wine business - specifically Champagne in its infancy - the husband dies - leaving "The Widow Cliquot" to sell the business and spend the rest of her life attending upper class "teas" - or  - "bet the vineyard" - agreeing to take a partner and make a go of it - she chooses the latter - 

The rest is history - shrewd - innovative - risk taking - she was ultimately a success with a fair amount of failures along the way - but as a woman business person - she was unparalleled in a time when women of class did not work - let alone run the show -

Ms Mazzeo book is ultra researched - the author almost becoming one with The Widow Clicquot - creating the flaw of too much information - 

Watch an hour long "trial" created and dramatized for TV - the story is told episodically - breaking for commercials - spending 20% at the beginning of each segment to recap the previous episode -

The author assumes the reader couldn't possibility remember what happened in the previous chapter - devoting too much to what has just been read -

Its a great story - a detailed history - but a on/off read -

Comments

[supra footwear]

So fun article is! I know more from it.

[supra vaider]

Very, very nicely done!

[red bottoms]

It's great to hear from you and see what you've been up to. In your blog I feel your enthusiasm for life. thank you.