The Widow Clicquot, story of an amazing entrepreneur

Being released next week is an interesting book about Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, more famously known as Vueve Clicquot, the widow who created by hardwork, dedication and a good deal of risk-taking one of the most famous brands of Champagne at a time before branding really even existed. To do so, she had to overcome the early death of her husband, several wars and establishment favouritism of Moët.

One key aspect of building of the brand was her dedication to selling in export markets in a time before smooth roads or temperature-controlled warehouses and trucks existed. The gambles taken were immense. The export salesmen took trips that lasted months or years with little guarantee that product could reach the market. Ports were often blockaded, which meant leaving product in hot storage rooms where it could go bad or even explode. Payments took sometimes years to come in.

What does a book on a key player in building of a French wine brand have to do with this blog on the Spanish wine industry? Not much directly. But just as for Vueve Clicquot, the importance of export markets for building brands is crucial for Spanish wineries. Perhaps even more so for the creating of brands for the domestic Spanish market. Not until wines from Priorat started receiving awards and high auction prices in the UK and US were these wines taken seriously in Spain. The voice of the outsider can indeed raise up the underapreciated local player.

The Widow Clicquot was written by Tilar Mazzeo, who had to search for years to find the few surviving personal anecdotes about Vueve Clicquot. The book launch campaign is promoted via this blog: http://widowclicquot.blogspot.com/