As the crates holding her hopes and dreams for the future departed, Barbe-Nicole knew this was it – the move would either make or break the rest of her life. Each crate was packed full of bottles of the very best wine , headed for the shores of Russia in the hope it would save her company. There was only one problem – and it was a big one.
It was all illegal and the 10,000 bottles Barbe-Nicole had sent were being smuggled across the seas. READ MORE: Ireland on hurricane watch as Met Eireann gives exact date remnants could trigger severe weather READ MORE: Tommy Fury’s 'cockiness wiped from face' when he met up with 'crying' Molly-Mae Hague “It’s really a huge gamble,” says historian and author Tilar Mazzeo. “If she is successful then the business might survive but if she fails, this is her last chance.
This will be the end of it.” Against enormous odds, however, Barbe-Nicole triumphed and within weeks, she became known as the Widow Clicquot or – to anyone who’s ever enjoyed the odd glass of fizz – the woman behind Veuve Clicquot Champagne. Few people know that ‘veuve’ actually means ‘widow’ in French.
Barbe-Nicole’s incredible story has now been made into a film, Widow Clicquot, and the movie, starring Haley Bennett and Tom Sturridge , will hit cinemas later this month. But the extraordinary tale is one that should never have happened. While she may never have intended to, Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin changed not just the world of Champa.