Madame Clicquot Ponsardin

Madame Clicquot (; ; 16 December 1777 – 29 July 1866), also known as Barbe Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, Widow Clicquot, Veuve Clicquot, and the Grande Dame of Champagne, was a French Champagne producer. She took on her husband's wine business when widowed at 27. Under her ownership, and her skill with wine, the company developed early Champagne using a novel technique. The brand and company of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin still bears her name.

Biography Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, born 16 December 1777 in Reims, was the daughter of a wealthy father, Ponce Jean Nicolas Philippe Ponsardin (from 1813, Baron Ponsardin), a textile manufacturer and politician. Her mother was Jeanne Josephe Marie-Clémentine Letertre-Huart. Her childhood was influenced by her father, who was involved in both business and politics.

Like Nicholas Ponsardin, Philippe Clicquot ran a successful textile business. In addition, he was an owner of vineyards in the Champagne country and had established a wine business. In an attempt to consolidate the power of their two businesses, Mr. Ponsardin and Mr. Clicquot arranged a wedding between their children, but it was attributed to typhoid.

Both Barbe-Nicole and Philippe were devastated by François' death, and Philippe Clicquot announced his intention of liquidating the company. using funds supplied by her father-in-law. Prior to this invention of riddling, the second fermentation of wine to create champagne resulted in a very sweet wine with large bubbles and sediment from the remains of the yeast used in the fermentation in the bottle (which creates the bubbles in the wine) resulting in a cloudy wine. She still used the original English technique of adding sugar, but after this second fermentation was complete the bottles were held upside down. The bottles were regularly turned so that the dead yeast would all gather near the cork (riddling). Once the settling was complete, the wine near the cork was removed, followed by an addition of wine to refill the bottle. In 1818, she invented the first known blended rosé champagne by blending still red and white wines, inherited the chateau on Madame Clicquot's death.

Clicquot's legacy includes three inventions that revolutionised the making of champagne, including three firsts: vintage champagne; the riddling table; and blended rosé champagne.

In 2023, Haley Bennett portrayed Clicquot in the film Widow Clicquot which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival; it had its wide release on July 19, 2024. The film is based on Tilar J. Mazzeo's New York Times bestseller The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It and focuses on "the true story behind the Veuve Clicquot champagne family and business that began in the late 18th century."