By law in France, women were perceived as no more than the chattels of men. An act in 1791 denied citizenship to women and the ‘Napoleonic code’, in 1804, declared that “the husband owes protection to his wife, the wife obedience to her husband”. Women were banned from buying property and forbidden to travel without a chaperone.

The odds were already against Barbe-Nicole Clicquot, but then six years into her marriage, François died following a fever, though rumour has it he committed suicide due to the stress of their failing business. At the age of 27, widowed with a three-year-old daughter Clementine, Barbe-Nicole was expected to re-marry and the business to be taken over by her new husband. But Clicquot had other ideas. She was determined to make her business a success and petitioned her father-in-law to allow her to build the brand. Perhaps seeing her determination and passion, he agreed.

Her breakthrough came as the Napoleonic Wars raged to their bitter end. Realising Napoleon was about to be defeated and understanding that Russian nobles (early champagne enthusiasts) would want to celebrate the event, she defied the naval blockade on the French coast and smuggled out an illicit barge at the dead of night to take her finest vintage champagne to Amsterdam. Once peace was declared her shipment headed straight to Russia, weeks before her competitors. She sold over 10,000 bottles of champagne for the equivalent of £70 each and saved her business.

Within weeks Russia’s Tsar Alexander I declared that ‘Veuve’ Clicquot, or ‘Widow’ Clicquot, was the only thing he would drink. “She went from a struggling unknown to the darling of royal courts,” says Mazzeo.

Once the champagne reached Europe, Charles Dickens declared it to be “one of the elegant extras in life” and London’s fashion set were all calling for bottles of ‘The Widow’. However, this presented its own challenge – champagne making was a temperamental process and it often took two years to make a single bottle. “The fermentation process meant that champagne was sludgy grey with floaty bits of dead yeast in it,” says Mazzeo. “Pouring the champagne from one bottle to another made it look better, but it took forever.” Clicquot was not to be defeated. In a move that would have Karren Brady singing her praises on The Apprentice, she came up with a revolutionary idea.

“One day, she ran down to her cellar and said, ‘I have an idea. Take my kitchen table and drill holes in it then turn it upside down!’ Her staff ridiculed her but she insisted they do it,” explains Mazzeo. She then proceeded to store bottles of champagne in the holes, upside down at an angle. In a process that became known as ‘riddling’ the bottles were rotated every day and the sediment settled in the neck of the bottle, rather than at the bottom, making it easier to remove. The diamond clear champagne we recognise today was born and Clicquot’s business sky-rocketed, leaving her rival Jean-Rémy Moët in the dust. In 1818, in a move we will all be eternally grateful for, she went on to invent rosé champagne.

Only one personal letter, written to her great, great granddaughter before she died aged 89, survives. In it, she says: “You more than anyone resemble me, you who have such audacity. It is a precious quality that has been very useful to me in the course of my long life… to dare things before others!”

Today, Veuve Clicquot is still a global success, selling over one million cases of champagne annually. And the woman herself is commemorated at the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Awards, which recognise women who demonstrate Clicquot’s ‘enterprising spirit, courage and determination’.

“Without Clicquot’s invention, champagne would probably have faded away, or only been drunk by aristocrats,” concludes Mazzeo. Wine expert Jane Parkinson adds, “She continues to be a real inspiration. Her star shines even brighter today than it did when she was alive.”

Meet Madame Clicquot, the first lady of a champagne empire and inspiration to businesswomen today