Haley Bennett as Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin in Widow Clicquot.Supplied
The extraordinary life of Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, who became Veuve Clicquot following the death of husband François Clicquot, inspired the legacy of one of the world’s great Champagne brands as well as countless entrepreneurs, winemakers and a fictionalized feature film, Widow Clicquot.
An adaption of Tilar J. Mazzeo’s novel, The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It, director Thomas Napier’s biopic traces the effervescent widow’s story of triumph over adversary.
There are no spoilers here: Veuve Clicquot is one of the world’s most popular Champagne brands. But there are lessons to be learned for anyone who never stopped to consider the widow behind the famous yellow label.
Cliquot’s pioneering efforts on the marketing and production side introduced practices that are still common in Champagne and beyond. One of her lasting innovations was developing, with her cellarmaster, the riddling process to remove the unwanted deposits left over after secondary fermentation in the bottle.
Bottles were placed in special racks to hold them at an angle. Over the course of six to eight weeks, each bottle was rotated by a quarter-turn every day to encourage the lees (dead yeast cells) to settle in the neck of the bottle. The collected sediment was easier to remove resulting in crystal clear sparkling wine.
The quality-minded widow also marketed the first vintage Champagne (in 1810) and rosé Champagne made by blending white and red wines together for the base wine (in 1818).
To establish her brand’s identity and deter fraudsters, she started marking the corks of her wine with an anchor in 1798, later adding a star and the initials VCP, to signify Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin. (Such branding would evolve into Veuve Cliquot’s familiar yellow label, which became a registered trademark in 1877.)
The sweeping saga of Widow Clicquot embraces the romanticism of a costume drama, offering up lavish gowns and vineyard vistas that tempted me to chill a bottle of champagne. It’s enjoyable to see some of the battle scars behind the frivolous and luxurious façade of Champagne depicted, but ultimately the fictionalized account fails to convey how her remarkable breakthroughs changed the world of wine.