Description
The story begins in the early 1900s, when René Schloesser, a young farmer from Luxembourg, left his homeland for a better life in Champagne. There he met Lucie Coutelas, a young winegrower's wife from the municipality of Romery. They married in 1927. Two years later, when France was in the grip of a serious economic crisis and the champenois traders stopped buying their grapes, René and Lucie decided to make and sell their own champagne. And thus the Champagne house was born!
Initially, only about 1,000 bottles were produced each year. Every morning, René would take them himself, stowed away on the carrier of his bicycle, to the Damery railway station and watch them leave for Paris, where members of the family living in the capital would take care of the sale of these bottles. After the liberation in 1945, sales of champagne grew and production at Maison Schloesser gradually increased; soon they were producing 5,000 bottles a year, most of which were sold in Paris and Lyon.
In 1950, René and Lucie's daughter Suzanne married Jean TRIBAUT, a young vineyard owner and winemaker. They combined their vineyards and businesses and the current brand was created: CHAMPAGNE TRIBAUT-SCHLOESSER. Jean and Suzanne continued to build the company throughout their working lives.
In 1967 their son, Jean-Marie, joined them to manage the vineyards and the winery so that Jean could devote his time to developing the commercial side of the business. In 1980, they built the current winery and began buying foudres and demi-muids (600-litre oak barrels) to create and refine the unique TRIBAUT style. In 1986, the Maison began sending its first bottles abroad: Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, Switzerland and the USA. In the 1990s Jean-Marie and his brother took the Champagne Maison to a new and higher level. They started buying grapes from other wine growers in the village and from the best cru's of Champagne. They also improved the production facilities by purchasing two new automatic presses in 2005.
Today, the fourth generation of the family continues to put the traditional know-how of their ancestors to good use.
Jean-Marie's two sons, Sébastien and Valentin, have taken up the reins and CHAMPAGNE TRIBAUT-SCHLOESSER takes advantage of their complementary skills to create fine, delicate champagnes for life's finest moments. Today, the Maison has customers in more than 25 countries around the world.
The family-owned vineyards are mainly located in the communes of Romery, Cormoyeux and Fleury la Rivière. Their south and southeast facing slopes with clayey soils, located in a remote valley of the Marne that supports the Montagne de Reims, allow the production of some excellent Meuniers and some very surprising Chardonnays! They also grow vines in the commune of Aÿ, a Grand Cru village in the famous Vallée de la Marne, which is renowned for its Pinot Noir grapes. A no-nonsense champagne producer with an unequalled price-quality ratio.
