Veuve Clicquot: Widow Clicquot
Veuve Clicquot has an incredible backstory.
If you only know the Champagne for its yellow label, you need to know about France’s original badass businesswoman.
Veuve means “widow” in French. Veuve Clicquot is one of the most famous Champagnes in the world, thanks to Madame Clicquot, who, in 1805, at just 27 years old, took over the family business when her husband died.
Madame is widely considered the first French businesswoman; her contributions to Champagne production and marketing are truly impressive:
If you like rosé Champagne…
Thank Madame Clicquot.
She was the first to blend red and white still wine to make rosé Champagne.
If you Like vintage Champagne…
She was the first to produce one of those.
Vintage Champagne is a Champagne made with grapes from a single year. The year will appear on the bottle. Vintage Champagne is also called Millésime in France. If you ever have the chance to try Veuve Clicquot’s La Grand Dame vintage Champagne (named for Madame Clicquot and shown above) –do it. It’s mostly Pinot Noir (her favorite grape) and is fabulous, but it’s pricey: around $200.
Madame Clicquot is also credited with inventing the riddling process–that gets the sediment out of Champagne. She created a table with holes in it. The table holds the wine bottles upside down at an angle. A human turns them slightly several times a day. That makes the sediment settle in the neck of the Champagne bottle and is called riddling. Today riddling happens on racks or machines, but before Madame Clicquot came around, Champagne was full of cloudy sediment.
At the end of the Napoleonic wars, Madame Clicquot became an exporting legend, sending thousands of bottles of Veuve to Russia to celebrate their victory—making her Champagne an international sensation.
What should you know about Veuve Clicquot today?
Let’s start with how you say it:
Veuve rhymes with love. It’s “Vuhv Klee-Koh.”
(Not “Voov”)
Veuve is a Pinot Noir dominant Champagne, so expect that to be the primary grape, along with Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. Pinot Noir brings body and structure to Champagne. You can find Veuve Clicquot yellow label brut for about $60 online. Can you find excellent Champagne for less? Absolutely, especially if you follow Francey Not Fancy 😉, but Veuve is always a quality, classy choice, and a nice Champagne to give as a gift.
If I bring Veuve to party, it’s not only because I know it’s a sign of quality, it’s also because I love that it’s the first female-run, female-produced Champagne house.
🍾 And hell, if that ain't something to celebrate.
