Wine · Reims, Champagne
Veuve Clicquot
The Reims Champagne house shaped by a widow who changed winemaking.
- Founded
- 1772
- Founded by
- Philippe Clicquot
- Based in
- Reims, Champagne
Making it since
1772
Their story
Veuve Clicquot traces back to 1772, when Philippe Clicquot started a wine business in Reims. The house owes its name and fame to his daughter-in-law, Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin. Widowed in 1805, she took charge of the company against strong opposition and became one of the first women to run a Champagne house.
She slipped shipments past wartime blockades to reach Russia in 1814, and in the years that followed her cellar made two lasting contributions: the riddling rack in 1816, which made clear Champagne practical, and the first blended rosé Champagne in 1818. The yellow label arrived in the 1870s.
Veuve Clicquot was bought by Louis Vuitton in the 1980s and is now part of the LVMH group. Its wines still age in chalk cellars carved under Reims.
How it's made
Bottles age in the house's crayeres, medieval chalk quarries deep beneath Reims, where the temperature and humidity stay steady year round. Clarity still relies on riddling, the technique Madame Clicquot developed, and the rosé is still made her way, by blending in a little still red wine.
Why we carry them
We keep Yellow Label on hand because it is reliable and always welcome at a celebration. The story behind the bottle makes it an easy gift to give.
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