1821

On the first day of December 1821, the widow Barbe-Nicole Clicquot announced that her partner ‘Georges’ Kessler would be taking over the company in 1824, and would continue running it on his own. However, this never happened. Although Kessler remained a partner and the driving force behind the champagne house, his business interests were increasingly turning towards the emerging industrialisation process in France, which was mainly driven by the thriving textile industry. In 1822, Kessler established a textile factory in Pontfaverger and opened the Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin bank in Reims. From 1825-26, he devoted himself to the development of the textile factory, establishing a branch located in his native Württemberg at Esslingen on the Neckar (later known as Merkel & Kienlin, ‘Esslinger Wolle’). In May 1826, he took over the Esslingen operations on his own account and, in turn, gave up the partnership in Reims.