When I Grow Up I Want To Be Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin
When I grow up, I want to be just like Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin.
I'm serious, she is the most badass lady of them all and sometimes I have to cool my jets when telling her story because I can seriously go on forever. I kind of don't even want to start getting into it for the sake of the length of this post.
All I'm going to say is, not only did she make Veuve Clicquot one of the most successful Champagne brands in the world, but she made *Champagne* itself one of the most prestigious and distinguished wines in the world.
She was smart, cunning, and determined and she persevered through almost a decade of misery and bankruptcy before she succeeded at making Champagne a beverage that could be mass produced and was recognized and worshipped internationally.
And this was in the early 19th century when women really weren't supposed to be doing things like this—owning companies and taking over the world.
Following Barbe, the success of the Champagne industry was advanced by the brilliance of almost solely women. From Louise Pommery to Mathilde Emilie Laurent-Perrier to Camille Olry-Roederer and Lily Bollinger. They were inventive, resourceful, and shrewd. They rebelled against tradition and the status quo and they were marketing and business geniuses.
And because of them—Champagne!! Thank god, amirite?! 🥂
Traditionally, champagne has added sugar! Now don’t freak out—this isn’t the same as a kid pouring sugar onto their parent’s plain Special K cereal to create some kind of fizzy crack.