Ron Peters's Reviews > The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It

It was interesting to learn about the woman-in-a-man’s-world behind the label. Written in a simple, engaging style, Mazzeo covers the biography of Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin (1777–1866, La Veuve Clicquot, the Grande Dame of Champagne), the complementary history of Europe in her lifetime, and many tidbits about the champagne business and the crafting of high-priced bubbly. She died just as France was hit with the phylloxera outbreak that nearly wiped out the entire wine industry.