First book review on the blog! Woohoo~~🎊

This year’s goal is to review every book I read (excluding any graphic/audio books) for a deeper reading experience. The format will be refined as I continue this habit.

Book Specs 📖

• Authors: Tilar J. Mazzeo
• Genre: Business/Historical Biography
• Pages: 264 (Paperback)

One sentence Synopsis🔖

Started from the bottom… or erm “affluent upper-middle-class-bourgeoisie-family”, Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot (the “Widow Clicquot”) cleverly multiplies her fortunes to build the Champagne empire that is known today as Veuve Cliquot.

Notes/Thoughts📝

• “Widows had all the social freedoms of married women–and most of the financial freedoms of a man.” in 18th-19th century France
• remuage – disgorgement process discovered by Barbe-Nicole where bottles would be stored sur pointe – faster and safer way to rid of debris in bottle
• Although Barbe-Nicole crafted her champagne for clarity and sweetness to fit the tastes/preferences of the Russians, her first commercial success was largely due to speed to market compared to her competitors. Speed to market >>>
• Finding all the terms I learned in my WSET class in the book (yay learning!): terroir,[environmental conditions], cru, vintage [grapes from a single harvest], secondary fermentation/traditiional method [sugar and yeast added to bottle to produce carbon dioxide], autolysis [aging bottled wine in yeast], malolactic fermentation [bacteria in wine create a buttery/yeasty taste in wine]
• Barbe-Nicole was one of first winemakers to use labels on her bottles in 1814, prior to this most bottles were only identified by markings on the cork
• in 18th century, Moet purchased almost 50% of wines from women
• more women are ‘supertasters’ than men – supertasters have a higher proportion of taste buds on their tongues
• Although I liked the premise of a bold female entrepreneur trailblazer, the book was weak on historical facts and felt overly sentimental. The storytelling was quite dry [or brut ha ha ha]. Would not recommend this book, try wikipedia/chatgpt or another biographer instead if you want to learn about the topic.

“Quotes”🗣

[p.181] “You more than anyone resemble me, you who have such audacity. It is a precious quality that has been very useful to me in the course of my long life….The world is in perpetual motion, and we must invent the things of tomorrow. One must go before other, be determined and exacting, and let your intelligence direct your life. Act with audacity. Perhaps you too will be famous….”