Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne

Veuve was first founded in the year 1772 by Philippe Clicquot-Muiron. The Veuve Clicquot name is pronounced vuhv klee-KOH. The champagne was instrumental in establishing champagne as the spirit of choice within the European wealthy bourgeoisie and nobility. Located in Reims, Veuve Clicquot champagne is a prominent part of the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey group of quality and luxury brands. It has been a member of this group since the year 1987. Veuve Clicquot also owns a prominent controlling interest in Cloudy Bay Vineyards of New Zealand.

History

Francois Clicquot married Nicole Barbe Ponsardin on June 10, 1798. Her husband, who was the son of Philippe Clicquot-Muiron, died on October 23, 1805. This left Ponsardina wideon or a French veuve and in full control of the company. At this time, the company was splitting its resources between banking, champagne production, and wool trading. Madame Clicquot, however invested the company's whole focus into the production of quality champagne.

Throughout the Napoleonic wars, Madame Clicquot, achieved enormous success by exporting her champagne to many nations including Imperial Russia in 1814 and establishing the beverage as a necessity in the royal courts.

On July 29, 1866, Madame Clicquot died and left behind a very well established and profitable brand of champagne.

Industrialization of Champagne

Madame Clicquot is often given the credit for industrializing the production of champagne throughout the early 19th century. Working closely with her celler master, Antoine de Muller, Madame Clicquot is credited with inventing the ridding rack. This device allows the degorgement of sediment and dead yeast making the wine in a much cleaner process. Madame Clicquot's invention was simple and constructed of a wooden desks with circular holes that were carefully drilled to permit a bottle of wine to be placed upside down or sur point. Each day, one of the cellar assistants would carefully shake and twist the bottle to persuade sediments and dead yeast to gather at the neck of the bottle of champagne. When the yeast settled towards the neck, the bottle was frozen. The sediments would fall out when the cork was released, allowing pristine and clean wine to be topped off and recorked.

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