Jan 16, 2024

A private day tour to Veuve Clicquot in Reims

The widow Clicquot is a figure of the 19th century. After the death of her husband, Barbe-Nicole Clicquot-Ponsardin decided to run the family business herself. The first woman to head a champagne house, the Widow Clicquot established herself in a largely male-dominated economic landscape. A strong-willed, wise, visionary businesswoman, she will not hesitate to carry […]

The widow Clicquot is a figure of the 19th century. After the death of her husband, Barbe-Nicole Clicquot-Ponsardin decided to run the family business herself. The first woman to head a champagne house, the Widow Clicquot established herself in a largely male-dominated economic landscape. A strong-willed, wise, visionary businesswoman, she will not hesitate to carry out clandestine operations when the maritime routes of champagne are closed, victims of the blockade of the war in Europe under Napoleon.

From the Netherlands to the ports of the Baltic Sea, she lost entire cargoes, thousands of bottles were squandered off the coast of Amsterdam, but the Clicquot widow resisted and managed, as best she could, to overcome the immense difficulties of beginning of the century.

Tasting at the terrasse during summertime 🙂

The champagne of the Tsars

Barbe-Nicole Clicquot-Ponsardin will also invest in new means of production such as the riddling table, which allows the bottles to be rotated a quarter turn on themselves in order to clarify the wines, making them clear by eliminating deposits. . A technique that will speed up production and sell more bottles. Throughout her life, the Widow Clicquot was obsessed with quality.

One of the major turning points in the history of the Widow Clicquot occurred in 1814: after having sent a very special vintage to Saint Petersburg, which sold in twenty-four hours, the champagne from the house of Reims became the nectar of the Tsars . It will then invite itself to the table of the powerful of the world and become the root of the Russian word for champagne. The Veuve Clicquot, the adventure of a woman at the avant-garde of champagne.

Cellars are located in old chalk-pit dug in the 3 century !

With Champagne Tour Paris agency, you can visit Veuve from your hotel in Paris with a private guide in a minivan, check-it out here. Price is 800 Euros for two people for a day trip including Reims cathedral visit, Veuve tickets with tastings. For 880 Euros you can add the visit of a local family organic champagne grower !
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Champagne Tours is a French company that accompany you from your Parisian hotel for day trips in the most famous sparkling wine region in order to discover its heritage, its history, its landscapes and its cellars.