Minutes February book: The Widow Clicquot

The Widow Clicquot

By Tilar J Mazzeo

(Chosen by T-Rex)

Theme: Biography

 T-Rex chose this book on the recommendation of a friend who is in another bookclub. She needed no encouragement at all to read about champagne, especially when the reading came in the form of her favourite book genre - biography! Having toured the area of Champagne recently, she was especially keen to learn more about the history. The book also fitted within this year's page limit

About the author:

Tilar J. Mazzeo is the New York Times best-selling author of books on wine, travel, French culture, and the history of luxury, including The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It, The Secret of Chanel No. 5: The Intimate History of the World’s Most Famous Perfume, The Back-Lane Wineries of Sonoma, The Back-Lane Wineries of Napa, and the forthcoming The Ritz at War: Luxury in Occupied Paris. She divides her time between the California wine country, New York City, and Maine, where she is a Professor and the co-chair of the English department at Colby College.

(general biographical detail from the author's website)

What the publisher says about the book:

The Widow Clicquot is the New York Times bestselling business biography of the visionary young widow who built a champagne empire, became a legend in her tumultuous times, and showed the world how to live with style. Tilar J. Mazzeo brings to life the woman behind the label, Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, in this utterly intoxicating book that is as much a fascinating journey through the process of making this temperamental wine as a biography of a uniquely tempered and fascinating woman.

What we discussed about the book:

• Is this the only example of an 'oeno-biography'? ('Oeno' coming from the Ancient Greek for wine) Could we think of any others?
• In what ways did lack of written evidence of The Widow's life shape the form of the book, especially in the first half?
• How much of the story was 'made-up' to join the dots where evidence was missing?  
• Was this an academic work or a best-selling biography? Does it walk a fine line between the two?
• How painstaking the research of this book was - as evidenced by the extensive notes.
• The 'invention' of champagne - how much is myth? how much is fact? What was Dom Perignon's role? How has modern marketing used these stories?
• Is Marie-Antoinette's breast and the coupe glass another myth?
• The role of politics and international relations in the story.
• What drove the Widow's persistence in the face of many setbacks?
• Did we warm to the Widow as a 'character'?
• What did we think the nature of her relationship with Edouard was?
• How unlikely it was for women at that time to travel. The Widow visited Paris once in her lifetime, and yet without travelling beyond her region, she was able to strategise on an international scale.
• How we loved the descriptions of the wine-making process - the 'ropey' and 'stringy' wine etc.
• What motivated the Widow to encourage an aristocratic marriage for her daughter?
• Was the Widow generous in a philanthropic sense? 
• The role of the climate in creating great wines/champagnes.

And then we were sidetracked into:

• The invisibility of women in historical evidence. What types of women did leave strong traces, and what types didn't?
• How have women been involved in the wine industry over history? In what roles, and under what circumstances?
• The Champagne A.O.C. regulations. When did they come into force? What do they regulate?
• Traditions of wine making in various ethnic groups in Australia. 
• Why Catholicism was literally driven underground in France.
• The role of monks in wine making.

In other news, we discussed:

• Les Miserables. A great movie? Or just plain miserable?
• Who is/was the most handsome of the British Royals?
• The purchase of macaroons at Laduree in Paris - how many are required to 'get the bag'?
• What is a 'billion'? (a UK billion was once 1,000,000,000,000 but is now the same as the US: 1,000,000,000)

Ratings:
Range: 7 to 8.5
Average:  7.77

Next book: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (chosen by Domestic Goddess)