The Widow Clicquot. The First Lady of Champagne

An impressive saga about the first of the "Widows of Champagne" in France, Barbe-Nicole Clicquot. Possessing a rare gift known as "Le Nez" (The Nose), Barbe-Nicole is capable of creating incredible blends, as well as smelling the "stink of lies or the fragrance of a pure heart. Or the heart-wrenching scent of unfulfilled hope." In addition to this gift, she possesses courage and self-belief; overcoming unimaginable hardships during the years of the Napoleonic Code, which left widows without property rights – and in Barbe-Nicole's case, without her vineyard, without her champagne. The plot, skillfully interwoven with historical letters from Napoleon, transports the reader to the height of turbulent French life in the early 19th century, when Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin created her empire – the great champagne empire.