The "Veuve Clicquot"

"La Veuve Clicquot"
French C1 writing exercise

Here's the story of how widow Barbe-Nicole Clicquot created one of the most famous champagne brands in the world.

Pay attention to the hints!

Some vocabulary you may want to look up before or during this exercise: "a town house", "to be confronted by", "to be granted (rights)", "to take over a business", "to revolutionise", "the riddling table (wine)", "a deposit (wine)", "the neck of the bottle".

Written by Qualified French Expert Aurélie Drouard HKH, Licence d'anglais LLCE
Last updated: 2023-03-13

I’ll give you some sentences to translate into French

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How the test works
You’ll practise: Le Passé Simple (Indicatif), Adjectif possessif, Pronom relatif

Here's a preview of the text for the writing challenge, when you're ready click the start button above:

Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin grew up in a town house in Reims, where her father, a textile entrepreneur, was mayor under Napoleon I. In 1798, she married François Clicquot. When she lost him barely 7 years later - she was only 27 years old at the time - Madame Clicquot-Ponsardin found herself confronted by the limits of the time when only very few rights were granted to women To be able to take over her husband's businesses, including a champagne firm created in 1772, she therefore had to display her widowed status, hence her now famous signature of "Veuve Clicquot". But this visionary woman with a strong personality was above all at the origin of the innovation which revolutionised champagne production: the riddling table. This method, which facilitates the elimination of the deposit by making it go down towards the neck of the bottle, considerably improved champagne's clarification process. It's therefore thanks to it that we can today enjoy the champagne with fine bubbles [that is] famous all around the world.

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