The Widow Clicquot

Summary:

“The Widow Clicquot” is the New York Times bestselling business biography of the visionary young widow who built a champagne empire, became a legend in her tumultuous times, and showed the world how to live with style.

Tilar J. Mazzeo brings to life the woman behind the label, Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, in this utterly intoxicating book that is as much a fascinating journey through the process of making this temperamental wine as a biography of a uniquely tempered and fascinating woman.(Summary and cover courtesy of goodreads.com)

Review:

This book was lovely because Mazzeo does a good job bringing together the history of France, wine-making and pieced together the story of “The Widow Cliquot”.  Because there was so little confirmed fact about the subject, the book could have been a stronger if it was a little shorter.

By weaving together the different histories, the author is able to highlight just why Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin was so extraordinary for her time.  I also loved the level of technical information about wine-making was included.  It was enough I felt like I really understood what was happening without getting too dry.  The book would be 4 stars, but for the few moments dry moments and my feeling that it is a bit longer than it could be.  And now for a glass of bubbly!

Rating: 3 stars!

Who should read it? Champagne and history fans!