Veuve Clicquot may be the most famous of the widows of Champagne but she isn’t the only one. Lily Bollinger, Louis Pommery, Mathilde Emile Laurent-Perrier and Marie-Louise de Nonancourt each forged their own path and helped create a legacy that lives long past them in that lovely glass of perfect champagne.
For a very long period in France, a woman was not allowed to head a company or even own one unless she was a widow. A few women he chose not to remarry after their husbands died because they had more rights as a widow. Veuve Clicquot paved the way and even inspired these other trailblazers.
Lily Bollinger was born October 2, 1899 and in 1923 married Jacques Bollinger. Jacques was the grandson of Jacques Joseph who built Bollinger with Paul Renaudin and Athanase de Villermont in 1829. Jacques Joseph married Charlotte de Villermont, daughter of his partner. In 1918 his grandson Jacques took over the winery and with Lily modernized and expanded shipping to Russia and England.
Lily took over Bollinger when her husband suddenly died in 1941. It was during WWII and her caves were used to tend to the injured and hide families while she kept sending the Germans champagne to keep them away.
Just a few decades after the winery originally started the Phylloxera aphid arrived in France. Around 1858-1863 more than half the vineyards in France were destroyed. With a stroke of luck or divine guidance one of the Bollinger vineyards was left untouched. It is to this day one of the only vineyards and wines you can buy that his from the original old vines. A bottle labeled “Old Vines Francaise” will set you back a few thousand euros and is still bottled today.
Lily also revolutionized champagne by resting the wine four times longer on the lees than anyone else, giving champagne that “brioche” flavor we now love so much. She was also the first to add discorging dates onto the bottles.
For most of her life she could be found riding her bike through the vineyards and town until she died in 1977 at 77 years old.
Louise Pommery born in 1819 was inspired by Clicquot and after her husband’s death focused only on champagne production. Louis married Alexandre Louis Pommery in 1856. He was a wealthy wool trader and after their first son was born he decided to retire.
Seventeen years later Louise became pregnant again and he thought he better get back to work. Louis bought into the champagne business in 1857. The next year he died and Louise took the helm of the company.
As a school girl in London she noticed how everyone loved dry cider. Pommery created the first brut champagne in 1874. Before that champagne was very sweet. Today most of the champagne sold in the world is brut. On March 18, 1890 she died at her chateau in Chigny-les-Roses near Reims. The Champagne house stayed in the Pommery-Polignac family until 1979.
Mathilde Emile Laurent-Perrier born in 1852 and in 1871 married Eugene Laurent on November 11, 1871. Eugene worked at the champagne house of Alphonse Pierlot as a cellar master and when Alphonse died without an heir he left the champagne house to Eugene.
In 1887, Eugene died in a freak accident as a result of the newly installed freight elevator. Mathilde was now the head of the winery she renamed Veuve Laurent-Perrier et Cie. Exporting to Belgium, Germany and England where they couldn’t get enough of it. The Laurent-Perrier Grand Vin Sans Sucre, inspired by Pommery, was very dry and debuted at the Brébant restaurant on the Eiffel Tower. After her death in 1925 her daughter Eugenie-Hortense Laurent took over until she sold it to Marie-Louise de Nonancourt.
Marie Louise de Nonancourt had champagne in her blood. Her father was Henri Lanson and was from a wealthy champagne family. On January 25, 1918 she married Charles de Nonancourt who led the 102nd infantry in WWI and died just a few years later in 1922.
She had been leading her family vineyard, Delamotte, that her father had given her in 1930. Marie bought Mathilde’s winery in 1939 and brought it under the umbrella of her Lanson Champagne family. During WWII Marie outsmarted the Nazis by hiding her champagne behind a wall and sealing them away. A strategically placed Virgin Mary watched over them. Her son would later take over the company elevating both labels. Her sons would later lead the company until Maurice was captured during WWII for his work wit the resistance and killed. Bernard remained at the helm in 1948 after Marie made him work in every single job and aspect of the wine making process. Bernard was one of the few to ever do that and made him beloved by his employees until his death.
Listen to the story of each of these amazing women that forged a path for all those that came after them. Next time you are at a wine bar in Paris ask the story of the winemaker of each wine you try. Every bottle has a family and a story behind it filled with love and passion.
Out now on La Vie Creative - Pari History Avec a Hemingway
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