Watch tip: Widow Clicquot, the impressive story behind Veuve Clicquot champagne
A true champagne film is coming to cinemas, and we’re giving away a number of tickets (with Veuve Clicquot mini bottles!). Widow Clicquot is a costume drama based on a true story about the origins of the famous champagne house Veuve Clicquot. It tells the story of a newly widowed woman who, at the end of the 18th century, plagued by the seasons, competing winemakers and the Code Napoleon—which forbids her, as a woman, from running a business—does everything in her power to protect the Clicquot legacy. Want to win free tickets and a matching drink? Then be sure to read on.
About Veuve Clicquot
Founded in 1772, Veuve Clicquot is one of the best-known and largest champagne houses in the world. The French word veuve means widow; after her husband’s death, Nicole-Barbe took over the leadership of the vineyard in Reims. The golden-yellow label on the bottle has been its hallmark since the 19th century. In England, they affectionately call the bottle with the egg-yolk-colored label ‘The Yellow Label’.
Veuve is no stranger here either. The famous house, and the second-largest champagne house in the world, has quite a few achievements to its name. For example, it invented the so-called riddling table (in 1816). A riddling table, or pupitre, is an essential tool in the traditional champagne production process. It is a slanted table with holes in which champagne bottles are placed neck-down. This process, known as remuage or riddling, ensures that the yeast sediment formed in the bottle during the second fermentation sinks toward the neck of the bottle.
It was also the first house to produce a rosé champagne, in 1818, and the first house to release a vintage champagne, in 1810, made solely from grapes harvested in the year stated on the bottle. But the 168 bottles discovered in the wreck off the Finnish Åland Islands in the Baltic Sea in 2010 are certainly worth mentioning too! Today, around 35 million bottles are maturing in Veuve Clicquot’s wine cellars.
Widow Clicquot
After the untimely death of her husband, Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot (played by Haley Bennett, known for her role in The Girl on the Train) defies the conventions of her time and Napoleon’s laws and takes over the wine business they ran together. This strong woman guides the company through dizzying political and financial setbacks, defies her critics and revolutionizes the champagne industry to become one of the first major businesswomen in the world.
At the same time, she is still mourning the loss of her great love. What applies to her vines also applies to her: “When they struggle to survive, they rely more on their own strength. They become more than they were meant to be.”
Free cinema tickets
The film will be in cinemas from August 22. We are giving away 3 x 2 tickets, with two small bottles of Veuve Clicquot included with every 2 tickets (worth 80 euros per package). Want to enter? Then comment under this Facebook post with the champagne lover you would like to see this (beautiful!) film with. The winners will have the package delivered to their homes (around August 27).*
Also read:
