by Tilar J. Mazzeo
I really wanted to like this book-a nonfiction account of one of my favorite drinks combined with historical feminism and period dress. Unfortunately--and as Tilar Mazzeo makes clear--there is very little documented papers on the Widow Clicquot which is due to the time the story takes place, the rural nature of the business originally and the fact that she was a female business head which was very rarely covered in the historical records of the time. So what happens in the book--and it really should be more of a novel--is that Mazzeo is forced to guess about how things might have happened and she is a romantic at art so there are lots of candlelight and drama mixed into this story.
It makes the actual business and factual aspects we do have look silly and foolish--its almost more of a Kiera Knightly period piece than a story about a business... Though to her credit, Mazzeo loves champagne and teaches a lot about how it was made, the changes that came into the field during the time period and guesses smartly at how and why Widow Clicquot made those changes. In that sense, the novel is interesting about the path that all wines took in that time period, how the wars and culture clashes created demand and how the various champagne houses used that to create a market that would take over the world.
But if you're looking for a biographical account of one of the most important business women in France's history--know that you will be getting a lot of secondhand guessing some of which is based on other records at the time and other parts Jane Austen fandom. It's a shame because it detracts from what is really good and demeans the figure at the center of it all.
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