Keep it coming...Birthday Experience!: Champagne... is the only wine that leaves a woman beautiful after drinking it.

Champagne... is the only wine that leaves a woman beautiful after drinking it- Madame De Pompadour

Who said wine, champagne and other liquor has to be owned, created or produced by man? Well, let me tell you that, a lot of Ladies have been an important key for some liquors. Let's take the champagne for example... I was reading this small article by Jiles Halling, who writes about leading ladies in the champagne business...

And I quote:

The success of many champagne brands, both in the past and right now, is down to the dynamic leadership of women at the head of the house. 

Lady No.1:

Nicole-Barbe Ponsardin

The first woman to take the champagne industry by storm is arguably the most famous of them all. No less than La Grande Dame herself: La Veuve Clicquot. Nicole-Barbe Ponsardin married François Clicquot at the end of the 18th century. François was the son of Philippe Clicquot who had founded Champagne Clicquot in 1772 and their champagne company was growing fast. François tragically died at the age of only 30, just six years after marrying, leaving Nicole-Barbe as the original Veuve Cliquot.( Veuve means widowin French).

Madame Pommery

Lady No.2:

Madame Jeanne Alexandrine Louis Pommery's story was similar.

Widowed in the 1860s, only two years after her husband Louis had taken a controlling stake in a champagne business, Jeanne faced the choice of turning her back on the whole thing, or pressing on herself. She chose to press on and over the next few years she built the fledgling house into one of the great champagne houses, building a magnificent, but weird-looking mansion in Reims and overseeing the contruction of 10 miles of cellars into the bargain.

Lady No.3:

Elizabeth Bollinger

In the 20th century Elizabeth (Lily) Bollinger took over the running of Champagne Bollinger when her husband, Jacques, died in 1941. It must have been a baptism of fire for Lily seeing that France was under German occupation at the time and resources of all types were in short supply.

With no petrol to fill the trucks and tractors Lily took to touring the vineyards on a bicycle to see and manage what was going on. The image of her on her bike, pedalling through the vineyards, has become one of the iconic images of champagne. 

Elizabeth Bollinger

Lily personally supervised just about every aspect of champagne making and handled the marketing as well. After the war it was Lily who spearheaded the expansion in the U.S. and U.K markets.

Her most lasting legacy is her famous quote about champagne that appeared in the Daily Mail in Great Britain in 1961:

"I drink it when I'm happy and when I'm sad.

Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone.

When I have company I consider it obligatory.

I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and I drink it when I am.

Otherwise I never touch it, unless I'm thirsty."

... I must say, I hope ladies around the world don't have to wait to be a widower to start a business, or to own something... I believe we live in different times now... I did found this other fact... I wonder, If we do not own a winery or make it famous, can we at least be knowledgeable?

Madeline Triffon

In 1987, Madeline Triffon, then at Detroit's London Chop House, became the first American woman to earn the title of master sommelier, awarded by England's Court of Master Sommeliers. It took another five years for a second American woman to be similarly honored.

Ntsiki Biyela

I also found this... 




In the South African wine industry Ntsiki Biyela is something of a rarity. The country's first black female winemaker when she started out six years ago, Biyela has established herself as an award-winning vintner.

I might not own a winery, a brand, or know much about it... But I do enjoy it, therefore, I decided to visit Napa for my birthday weekend.... However, I decided to do it in a more adventurous way... In a convertible... My dear friend and I drove around Napa and Sonoma. I enjoyed every minute of it... Great scenery, great wine and great company... What else do you need?