VEUVE CLICQUOT

It all began in 1772, when Philippe Clicquot, a businessman and landowner, founded ‘a wine merchant's business under the name of Clicquot’.

It was a small business that aspired to cross borders and make the new name of Champagne known throughout the world. In 1798, François Clicquot, son of the Maison's founder, married Barbe Nicole Ponsardin.

The genius of the widow Clicquot

It was the latter who, having inherited from her husband all the passion and expertise for the production and marketing of Champagne, managed to grow the business into one of the most famous and renowned Maisons not only in the Reims area, but in the entire Champagne region. Barbe Nicole Ponsardin, in fact, widowed at only twenty-seven years of age, took firm control of the company after her husband's death, becoming one of the first great female entrepreneurs in modern history, known to all as the “widow Clicquot”, or “Veuve Clicquot” (fun fact: she was the one who created the first blended Rosé Champagne), hence the name of the Maison.

The first vintage Champagne

Under the guidance of the young widow, a number of innovations were introduced that benefited the entire appellation. From the first vintage Champagne, that of 1810, to the perfection of the remuage technique, through to the development of the liqueur de tirage used for the second fermentation in the bottle, there was no aspect that she did not personally oversee.

Not to mention her great commercial skills, thanks to which Barbe Nicole Ponsardin succeeded in 1814 in overcoming the continental blockade that immobilised Europe in terms of trade, bringing her Champagne directly to Russia, to St Petersburg, with what is now known as the “Cuvée Saint-Pétersbourg”.

The LVMH era

In short, a history of excellence that continues and evolves today under the luxury group LVMH, owner of the Maison since 1986, with the online sale of Champagnes with a unique personality, always recognisable for their immediate elegance and extraordinary refinement (and always available in Tannico's online wine shop).