The Widow Clicquot

The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It

By: Tilar J. Mazzeo

Narrated by: Clémence Poésy

The Widow Clicquot epitomizes glamour, style and luxury. In The Widow Clicquot, Tilar J. Mazzeo brings to life – for the first time – the fascinating woman behind the iconic yellow label: Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, who, after her husband's death, defied convention by assuming the reins of the fledgling wine business they had nurtured together. Steering the company through dizzying political and financial reversals, she became one of the world's first great businesswomen and one of the richest women of her time.

As much a fascinating journey through the process of making this temperamental wine as a biography of a uniquely tempered woman, The Widow Clicquot is the captivating true story of a legend and a visionary.

Now a major motion picture starring Hayley Bennett, Tom Sturridge and Sam Riley.

©2008 Tilar Mazzeo (P)2025 Bolinda Publishing

Critic reviews

'Told in a light and graceful style that is just right for its subject. A fascinating trip, made even more so by Ms. Mazzeo's charming cameo appearances as a kind of tour guide … An intoxicating business biography.' (Julia Flynn Siler, Wall Street Journal)

'If you like champagne, The Widow Clicquot by Tilar J. Mazzeo is definitely worth a drink.' (Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers)

'Tilar J. Mazzeo's informed and enlightening biography of Madame Clicquot, the widow and, more important, the businesswoman, retrieves her vintage story as if looking for a rare bottle in one of the Champagne region's deepest caves.' (Newsday)

'The Widow Clicquot is someone we should all know about ... Long a shadowy, legend-obscured figure, in Tilar Mazzeo's agile hands the widow sheds her weeds and takes form before our eyes as a distinctly modern entrepreneur. The result is narrative history that fizzes with life and feeling.' (Benjamin Wallace, New York Times bestselling author of The Billionaire's Vinegar)