Venerable champagne house Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin's Cecile Bonnefond came to Ireland to spread a luxurious way of life, writes Claire Shoesmith
For many of us, champagne is what we'd call a luxury - something to be had on a special occasion or when there's a reason to celebrate. For Cecile Bonnefond, president of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, the number two champagne house, it's a way of life. And it's that way of life that she's seeking to spread to as many countries as she can, including Ireland.
"I see Ireland as a real opportunity," she says, taking a sip of Veuve Clicquot from the glass before her and insisting the waiter pour me one too. "There's never a wrong time to drink champagne," she says, acknowledging my reluctance to accept a drink at 3.30 on a Tuesday afternoon.
While UK sales of champagne jumped to a record last year with Britain importing about 35 million bottles, the trend has yet to take off in Ireland.
The British are the second-biggest importer of Veuve Clicquot, which is owned by luxury products group Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), lagging only behind the US, and Ireland doesn't even feature on the list. Still, that's not something that bothers Bonnefond.
While working for US breakfast cereal maker Kelloggs in the 1980s, she managed to persuade the French that cornflakes weren't chicken food as they first thought but, a healthy cereal to eat for breakfast. So if she can succeed with cornflakes in the land of pain au chocolat and café au lait, then why not with champagne in the home of Guinness?
"It's about changing the habits of a nation and the culture associated with those habits," says the 48-year-old business woman who, in a grey suit, peach blouse and sporting a considerable amount of gold jewellery, looks very comfortable with the "luxury" she's trying to sell.
"We've convinced the women of Asia that they don't want cognac or sake and now it's the turn of the women of Ireland."
The female sex is her focus in more ways than one. For a start, it's the reason she's in Ireland, a country she claims to have loved since her first visit to a family in Wexford aged 11. Back then, she returned to with France a packet of cornflakes, a tin of custard and a wool sweater - this time, it's the satisfaction of seeing another woman "excelling in her business".
Bonnefond is in Dublin to present the Veuve Clicquot business woman of the year award to Anne Heraty, the first and only female chief executive of a publicly listed Irish company. "There aren't enough women in number one positions in business," says Bonnefond, who has been at the top of her profession since 2001. "Until it's a 50:50 split, then we'll keep giving this award to recognise the achievements of the women who make it."
The annual award, which is presented in 16 countries around the world, was set up in 1972 in honour of Madame Clicquot, who took over the running of the House of Veuve Clicquot 200 years ago at the age of 27 after the death of her husband. She is considered by many to be the first businesswoman of the modern era. Bonnefond, who studied marketing at the European Business School in Paris, London and Frankfurt, is the first woman to head the house since Madame Clicquot herself.
"That's what I like about the company, the tradition," she says. "I have always chosen companies where there is a big founder or heritage. Companies with a philosophy or mindset."
Food first and then luxury have been the focus of her 28-year career, starting out at dairy products company Danone, moving on to Kelloggs and then to Grand Metropolitan, now part of drinks giant Diageo.
After two years at the helm of Sara Lee's bakery activities in France and Italy, stepping into the shoes formerly worn by Madame Clicquot didn't seem too much of a challenge.
"I'd been in milk, I'd been in eggs and butter and I'd been in sugar and flour, so why should grapes be any different?" she says. And with the grapes is where she spends September and October. "Harvest time is the best time," she says. "I love being out in the fields."
January and February are spent blending - each bottle contains three grape varieties - and tasting the wine, which then matures for a minimum of three years before it reaches our shelves. For some blends, it's nine years.
Total sales at LVMH, which bought Veuve Clicquot in 1987, rose 5.6 per cent last year to €12.6 billion. Sales of wines and spirits rose 7.7 per cent to €2.28 billion. In the first three months of this year, wine and spirit sales have jumped 19 per cent to €510 million. The company, which is also known for its luxury clothes and cosmetic brands, doesn't break out champagne sales from other beverages, and Bonnefond declined to elaborate on the accounts, saying only it is a "significant" amount.
For now her mind is focused on Switzerland, the next destination in her whirlwind tour of the 16 countries involved in the Veuve Clicquot business woman award. After that, and most probably during it, she will again take up what she describes as her biggest challenge: not competition from other wine makers, but from the consumer.
"I have to convince them that champagne is not only for celebrations," she says, taking another sip from her glass.
