VOLUME 1 • ISSUE NO. 10
THE GRAND LADY OF CHAMPAGNE
A Story of a Widow, a King & an Industry Turned Upside Down
When someone very special is coming, we bring out the good things. The dishes in the china cabinet, the beautiful glasses, the bottle we have been keeping for just the right occasion.
That feels especially fitting as we enter Elul, the final month before a new year begins on the ancient Hebrew calendar, a season of preparation and drawing near to God, traditionally pictured by the words,
“The King is in the field.”
Elul is also associated with Song of Solomon 6:3,
“I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.”
The King has come near. The Beloved is in the field. And this week’s pilgrim takes us into a field ...
a vineyard actually.
Barbe Nicole Ponsardin was born in Reims, France, in 1777 and grew up knowing the vineyards around her. At twenty, during the religious upheaval following the French Revolution, she married François Clicquot in a secret ceremony held in a wine cellar by a priest. That same year, the Clicquot wine house began marking its corks with an anchor, the ancient Christian symbol of hope that calls to mind Hebrews 6:19,
“Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast.”
Seven years later François died. Barbe Nicole was twenty seven, the mother of a little girl and suddenly Veuve, Widow. Her father in law was ready to leave the struggling wine business behind. She asked him to let her run it. Remarkably, widowhood gave her business freedoms that married women in France rarely had. So she took the word that described her loss and put it right on the bottle:
Veuve Clicquot.
The widow became the name. What looked like a liability became her distinction.
And beside it remained the anchor.
Then came war, closed borders and a cellar full of Champagne with nowhere to go. Barbe Nicole kept preparing. When Russia finally opened in 1814, she moved quickly, sending more than 10,000 bottles toward St. Petersburg before many competitors did.
They sold spectacularly, and Veuve Clicquot soon became a favorite in Imperial Russia, associated with the court of Tsar Alexander I. The widow tending her vineyard in Reims could not see the royal table from her field, but what she had faithfully prepared made it all the way to the king.
Then another problem surfaced inside the bottle. Champagne was often cloudy with sediment, so Barbe Nicole and her cellar master developed the riddling table, gradually turning the bottles downward until the sediment could be removed. The result was beautifully clear Champagne and a process that changed the industry. She later pioneered the first known blended rosé Champagne. The woman whose world had been turned upside down changed Champagne by turning its bottles upside down. La Veuve, the Widow, became La Grande Dame de la Champagne.
The Grand Lady of Champagne.
And she did more than fill glasses. Madame Clicquot lived to eighty nine and used her success to support workers, schools, a relief fund, her parish church and even water sources for her community.
Proverbs 11:25 says, “The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.” One modern rendering gives us the wonderful picture of the generous being “saturated with favor.”
She knew how to fill and also how to pour.
So this week, as we enter Elul and prepare for a new year on this ancient calendar, look for the King in the field and ask for His favor. We see the widow. He sees the Grande Dame. We see the closed border. He sees the king’s table. We see the sediment. He sees what will become clear. We see the setback. He sees the whole vineyard. Stay anchored, keep tending what is in your hands and pour generously when your cup is full. The King is in the field, the anchor holds, and the land once called forsaken has a new name: Beulah. “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.”
Until next Tuesday, may your blessings be a double pour and your burdens be light.
Michelle Driscoll
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