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.
She married François Clicquot at the age of 21. Her husband died six years later. Her husband's death may have been suicide, but it was attributed to typhoid. In her own right, Madame was wealthy by virtue of her very well connected family. Napoleon and Josephine had both stayed at her father's hotel. Her father was made mayor of Rheims by Napoleon's decree.
Her husband François died in 1805, leaving his widow (veuve in French) in control of a company variously involved in banking, wool trading, and champagne production. Under Madame Clicquot's control, the house focused entirely on champagne, and thrived using funds supplied by her father-in-law. Under her management and her skill with wine, the company developed early champagne using a novel technique called riddling. Prior to this invention 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.
Her technique still used the original English technique of adding additional 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 frozen and the cork and frozen plug removed (disgorgement), followed by an addition of wine to refill the bottle.
Read more about this topic: Madame Clicquot Ponsardin
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