The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It »

Tilar J. Mazzeo is a cultural historian, biographer, and passionate student of wine, luxury, and French culture. She divides her time among the California wine country in Sonoma County, New York City, and Maine, where she is an associate professor of English at Colby College. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Widow Clicquot, as well as many other books, articles, essays, and reviews on history, women, and travel.

The story of the visionary young widow who built a champagne empire, showed the world how to live with style, and emerged a legend.

New York Times Book Review

“The Widow Clicquot, Tilar J. Mazzeo’s sweeping oenobiography of Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, is the story of a woman who was a smashing success long before anyone conceptualized the glass ceiling.”

Ch. 1 Child of the Revolution, Child of the Champagne 1 Ch. 2 Wedding Vows and Family Secrets 11 Ch. 3 Champagne Dreams 24 Ch. 4 Anonymity in Their Blood 36 Ch. 5 Crafting the Cuvee 49 Ch. 6 The Champagne Widow 60 Ch. 7 Partner and Apprentice 70 Ch. 8 Alone at the Brink of Ruin 84 Ch. 9 War and the Widow's Triumph 100 Ch. 10 A Comet over Russia: The Vintage of 1811 113 Ch. 11 The Industrialist's Daughter 121 Ch. 12 The Wine Aristocrats 130 Ch. 13 Flirting with Disaster 143 Ch. 14 The Champagne Empire 155 Ch. 15 La Grande Dame 166 Ch. 16 The Queen of Reims 178 Afterword 187 Notes 195 Selected Bibliography 239 Index 257