Champagne Books

The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It

Tilar J. Mazzeo

Amazon Price: $17.13 List Price: $25.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Collins Business Amazon Marketplace: 39 new & used starting at $15.73

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The story of the visionary young widow who built a champagne empire, showed the world how to live with style, and emerged a legend

Veuve Clicquot champagne epitomizes glamour, style, and luxury. But who was this young widow—the Veuve Clicquot—whose champagne sparkled at the courts of France, Britain, and Russia, and how did she rise to celebrity and fortune?

In The Widow Clicquot, Tilar J. Mazzeo brings to life—for the first time—the fascinating woman behind the iconic yellow label: Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin. A young witness to the dramatic events of the French Revolution and a new widow during the chaotic years of the Napoleonic Wars, Barbe-Nicole defied convention by assuming—after her husband's death—the reins of the fledgling wine business they had nurtured. Steering the company through dizzying political and financial reversals, she became one of the world's first great businesswomen and one of the richest women of her time.

Although the Widow Clicquot is still a legend in her native France, her story has never been told in all its richness—until now. Painstakingly researched and elegantly written, The Widow Clicquot provides a glimpse into the life of a woman who arranged clandestine and perilous champagne deliveries to Russia one day and entertained Napoléon and Joséphine Bonaparte on another. She was a daring and determined entrepreneur, a bold risk taker, and an audacious and intelligent woman who took control of her own destiny when fate left her on the brink of financial ruin. Her legacy lives on today, not simply through the famous product that still bears her name, but now through Mazzeo's finely crafted book. As much a fascinating journey through the process of making this temperamental wine as a biography of a uniquely tempered woman, The Widow Clicquot is utterly intoxicating.

101 Champagne Cocktails

Kim Haasarud

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Wiley Amazon Marketplace: 53 new & used starting at $8.46

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The perfect choice for anyone searching for just the right champagne drink 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Written by the founder of beverage consulting and specialty cocktail firm Liquid Architecture, 101 Champagne Cocktails lives up to its titles with one hundred and one exotic alcoholic recipes. From Black Cherry Champagne to Sparkling Apple Cocktail, Stormy Ginger Fizz, Golden Banana, Sparkling Mocha Truffle, and much more, 101 Champagne Cocktails features beautiful color photography on almost every two-page spread, and easy-to-follow directions. The perfect choice for anyone searching for just the right champagne drink, whether to go with an appetizer, main course, or simply as a dessert cocktail.

Editorial Review:

"Corks popping, frothy liquid flowing, a cold crispy freshness . . . nothing quite so perfectly reflects the notion of 'the best in life.' This is a book for celebrants. It's a book for romantics. It's a book for the entertainerwho wants a light, fresh concoction that can bring people together to accent the joys of the day. So break out the bubbly and toast!"
-From 101 Champagne Cocktails

Champagne for One

Rex Stout

Amazon Price: $15.85 List Price: $15.85 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Topeka Bindery Amazon Marketplace: 3 new & used starting at $4.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good mystery & an entertaining read 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Champagne for One begins with Archie Goodwin getting roped in to attending a somewhat unusual dinner. A small group of "unfortunate" young women (unmarried but had children) are paired with men of society in an attempt to broaden their horizons. It's sort of an odd premise but it does provide a great setup for Archie to practice his flirting skills. As you might guess, this being a Nero Wolfe novel, one of the young ladies swallows poisoned champagne and dies at the party. Most of the people there believe it's suicide, but Archie was watching her and knows she didn't poison the glass. From there, we are treated to a mystery with all the usual twists and turns until you're practically certain that no murderer will ever be revealed. And then, of course, Wolfe reveals the killer.

Champagne for One is a good read. It isn't quite up there with the very best Wolfe novels but it is far from the worst. The characters are probably better than average, the humor typical of the series is present and accounted for, and the mystery is more than interesting enough to hold the reader's attention. I probably wouldn't give this to a first time Wolfe reader if I wanted to be sure they'd get hooked on the series, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a fan looking for their next fix of the corpulent detective.

Editorial Review:

Unwilling to accept a suicide ruling after witnessing the death of the admittedly morbid Faith Usher, Archie Goodwin is assisted in the investigation by Nero Wolfe, who has been warned to stay away from the case. Reissue. NYT.

Champagne: How the World's Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed Over War and Hard Times

Don Kladstrup, Petie Kladstrup

Amazon Price: $11.16 List Price: $13.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harper Perennial Amazon Marketplace: 71 new & used starting at $2.95

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Silly Nonsense 1 out of 5 stars.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I found this book--which I finally threw down unfinished in irritation after the umpteenth faux "fact" was presented--trite beyond belief. I presume that a history is factual. This was not. The authors presented so much factually wrong, unsupported information and claims that I finally decided I could not justify spending more time reading it. For instance, they claim that both Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette drank champagne with a last meal before their executions. Well, Louis did enjoy a fairly good meal--without champagne--before his execution. Marie Antoinette, however, was so brutally treated and degraded by her captors as the Widow Capet before hers that there most assuredly was no "last meal" for her, much less a champagne chaser. Her maid recounted the details of her prevailing upon her to eat a few mouthfuls of some vermicelli which she warmed up on her stove in her cell. If she drank anything it was water--likely from the nearby and very polluted Seine. Anyone offering her champagne would have most certainly ended up being arrested for royalist sympathies. With all the many fine sources out there on both of these executionsw, how can the Kladstrups get away with printing such trite, factually wrong drivel merely to add some silly patina of faux glamour to their thesis? Then they go on to describe the aristocrats being guillotined, describing how the victims were forced to kneel and put their heads on the block. Have the Kladstrups even the remotest familiarity with how a guillotine works?? There is no block. There is no kneeling. There is no cooperation by the victim whatsoever. Read any source on the topic. Yet again, the Kladstrups trot out rubbish which is not even factually close to correct. Their description of the executions of Desmoulins and Danton--whom they falsely claim were drunk and singing a drinking song as they awaited their executions--round out this litany of utterly fabricated nonsense by which they attempt to link champagne to just about every event in French history. So. With so much drivel and made up "fact", how can one trust, much less enjoy, any of their other assertions in this so-called history? Definitely a candidate for recycling--or the outhouse.

Editorial Review:

Throughout history, waves of invaders have coveted the northeast corner of France: Attila the Hun in the fifth century, the English in the Hundred Years War, the Prussians in the nineteenth century. Yet this region – which historians say has suffered more battles and wars than any other place on earth – is also the birthplace of one thing the entire world equates with good times, friendship and celebration: champagne.

Champagne is the story of the world's favourite wine. It tells how a sparkling beverage that became the toast of society during the Belle Epoque emerged after World War I as a global icon of fine taste and good living. The book celebrates the gutsy, larger–than–life characters whose proud determination nurtured and preserved the land and its grapes throughout centuries of conflict.

Terroir: The Role of Geology, Climate, and Culture in the Making of French Wines (Wine Wheels)

Hugh Johnson

Amazon Price: $37.68 List Price: $50.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Wine Appreciation Guild Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $11.64

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A Must Read For Those Serious About Wine 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book allows one to understand why micro geography is as important to the making of a great wine as weather and the wine maker.

Editorial Review:

"From the Unseen Darkness where the vineroots suck, where the liquid in your glass is teased out of the soil." So states Hugh Johnson in explaining the importance of soils, "the terroir" that the French have long praised as the secret to great wines. Years of meticulous research now reveal the relationship between rocks and grapes. A natural history of the little known facts and anecdote woven into the compelling tale of how geology influences the choice of grapes, style and quality. A master geologist describes each rock type and soil and the way structure affects the absorption of vital nutrients. Using instruments and techniques developed for oil exploration, Wilson learned more about vineyards and quality than winemakers ever dreamed!

Uncorked: The Science of Champagne

Gerard Liger-Belair

List Price: $19.95 By: Princeton University Press Amazon Marketplace: 18 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Uncorked is the first book to quench our curiosity about the inner workings of one of the world's most popular drinks. Prized for its freshness, vitality, and sensuality, champagne is a wine of great complexity. Mysteries aplenty gush forth with the popping of that cork. Just what is that fizz? Can you judge champagne quality by how big the bubbles are, by how long they last, by how they behave before they fade? Why exactly does serving champagne in a long-stemmed flute prolong both the chill and the effervescence?

Through lively prose and a wealth of state-of-the-art, high-speed photos, this book unlocks the door to the mystery of what champagne effervescence is really all about. Gérard Liger-Belair provides an unprecedented close-up view of the beauty in the bubbles--images that look surprisingly like lovely flowers, geometric patterns, even galaxies as they rise through the glass and then burst forth on the surface. He fully illustrates: how bubbles form not on the glass itself but are instead "born" out of debris stuck on the glass wall; how they rise; and how they burst--the most picturesque and functional stage of the bubble's fleeting life.

Uncorked also provides a colorful history of champagne, tells us how it is made, and asks: could global warming spell its demise? Bubbly may tickle the nose, but this book tackles what the nose and the naked eye cannot--the spectacular science of that which gives champagne its charm and gives us our pleasure.

Champagne: The History and Character of the World's Most Celebrated Wine

Serena Sutcliffe

List Price: $29.95 By: Simon & Schuster Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $2.11

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Family and Friends Cookbook: From Casserole Comforts to Champagne Wishes, 50 Menus, Meal Plans and 200

JoAnna M. Lund, Barbara Alpert

Amazon Price: $18.95 List Price: $18.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Perigee Trade Amazon Marketplace: 25 new & used starting at $2.10

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Excellent cookbook 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

So far everything I have cooked from this cookbook has been excellent, easy to make and recipes are easy to follow. I would recommend this book to anyone!!

Editorial Review:

From menus to meal plans, healthy recipes to brand selections and pantry tips, JoAnna M. Lund makes mealtime a breeze. Readers can use her menu suggestions to feed groups-from their closest kin to huge reunions. Whether it's an Old-Fashioned Chicken and Biscuits Dinner or a fresh Spring Fling, a Seaside Pasta Parade or a Sweet Summer Supper, hosts and hostess will be in and out of the kitchen faster than they can say Mocha Madness.

Plus, when guests fill up on JoAnna's family-tested recipes, no one will ever know what's missing from these scrumptious concoctions: the fat, calories, and cholesterol!

JoAnna covers:

- Festive dishes for special occasions
- Stress-free weeknight dinners
- Buffets, brunches, and barbecues
- Tips for cooking for a crowd
- The ten commandments for healthy eating
- Complete nutritional information for every recipe

Champagne for Dummies

Ed McCarthy

List Price: $16.99 By: WineUltra.com Amazon Marketplace: 32 new & used starting at $0.68

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Features:

• Includes informative details about storing, serving and tasting sparkling wine.
• With special section of full color photos.
• Soft cover, 287 pages.

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Champagne may be the most misunderstood category of wine in the world. The major reason for all the confusion is the use of the term “Champagne” appearing on labels of sparkling wines that come from places other than the province of Champagne in northeastern France. But true champagne can only be born in an environment that combines the essential elements of chalky soil, a cool climate, and the Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier grape varieties. These are the crucial elements informing the unique flavor profile found only in wines from that corner of the world. Without them, any wine—even a very good one—calling itself champagne, is just an imposter.

Baffled by bubbly? Let wine expert Ed McCarthy clear away the confusion. If you find shopping for champagne a challenge, try this fun, friendly guide and discover just how easy it is to select the perfect bottle and:

• Appreciate various champagne styles
• Enjoy the author’s favorite champagnes
• Store and serve champagne
• Pair champagne with food
• Evaluate sparkling wines from the US and other countries

What’s the difference between brut and extra dry? Is Vintage Champagne worth the extra money? You’ll get the answers to these and all your questions about that effervescent wonder. And in the process you’ll discover:

• How champagne is made, what grape varieties are used, where the major grape-growing areas are, and how those tiny bubbles get into champagne
• The difference between vintage and non-vintage champagne and champagne specialties, such as blancs and rosé Champagnes
• The meanings of terms used to describe the dryness/sweetness levels of champagne, such as brut, extra-dry and semi-sec
• All about the great champagne houses, including in-depth coverage of the author’s 25 favorites
• Everything you need to know about buying and storing champagne
• The best ways to serve champagne, including the best glasses, the best foods to eat with it and more

Like most good things in life, the better you understand champagne, the more you enjoy it. This friendly guide will help you make your enjoyment of the most glamorous beverage on the planet complete.

The Little Book of Champagne (Little Book of . . .)

Christian Pessey

Amazon Price: $10.36 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 2 to 4 weeks By: Flammarion Amazon Marketplace: 16 new & used starting at $1.99

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Editorial Review:

Everything you want to know about your favorite subject in one handy volume.

Also available in the Little Book series:
The Little Book of Bordeaux Wines
The Little Book of Chocolate
The Little Book of Cigars
The Little Book of Coffee
The Little Book of the Louvre
The Little Book of Matisse
The Little Book of Olive Oil
The Little Book of Orchids
The Little Book of Rodin
The Little Book of Roses
The Little Book of Tea
The Little Book of Ties
The Little Book of Truffles
The Little Book of Vermeer
The Little Book of Whisky
The Little Book of Wine