Champagne Tribaut Schloesser : Champagnes born from love at first “cask”

11/10

Winegrower

Winegrower Champagne

Champagnes born
from love at first “cask”

In Romery, a few kilometers away from the capital of Champagne, Epernay, the House Tribaut-Schloesser is born in 1929 from the union of Jean Tribaut with Suzanne Schloesser, both coming from wine grower families. Both are now nearly 80 and it is with energy and enthusiasm that they welcome the visitors in a tasting room which dimensions have no other equal than its character. Full of anecdotes and souvenirs that the couple generously shares, this main room of the House has been their first winery as we learn happily... Naturally the generations succeeded, advanced techniques invited themselves and the most experienced champagne connoisseurs as well as the regulars are received at Romery with conviviality. And they come always and again “to see Mister Jean...”

Jean and Suzanne Tribaut now leave it to their son Jean-Marie, and their grandson Sébastien, to perpetuate the quality of the Champagnes they created. Jean-Marie Tribaut closely looks after the twenty hectares of vines planted over the three villages of Romery, Cormoyeux and Fleury-la-Rivière. “The success when working in family relies on a good distribution of the tasks. After the pressing, I take over from my father” Sébastien Tribaut explains. Maturation in oak casks, minutious blendings, creation of new cuvées, Sébastien Tribaut reigns over the cellar.

Some grape-pickers are coming back for 35 years

It is the day before the harvest in Romery and the pickers of the House Tribaut-Schloesser invariably arrive from the North. A tradition that started when the coal mines closed; the former miners then came to give a hand to the wine growers of Champagne. Some of the harvesters are present every autumn since more than 35 years. “Marie-Claude has seen me born. Her father already came to harvest in Romery” Sébastien Tribaut smiles, with a hint of nostalgy in the eye. A gesthouse with a panorama on the vines of the Montagne de Reims, king lunches and dinners – scarcely less than 70 guests – delight these grape lovers who come every year to share exceptional moments.
With low set yields, of 10,500 kg/ha this year, the instruction is more than ever to sort the bunches to pick only the best ones. The House Tribaut-Schloesser starts the harvest and is equiped since 6 years with two presses of a capacity of 8,000 kg each. They provide not only a better quality of juice but also, thanks to their volume, a reduced waiting-time of the grape on the platform.

The Tribaut Family

The cask, the brand image of the Tribaut-Schloesser Champagnes

The ageing of the wine in oak casks is the corporate image of the House Tribaut-Schloesser. With a capacity of nearly 50 hectolitres, the first casks that the House bought on the banks of Bercy date back to more than a century. They are reworked every three years to release again their inimitable woodiness to the full. If some of the House's Champagnes are blended with wines that partially aged in casks, the high quality cuvées, like the Cuvée René, are blended with 100% of those wines. The bottles are then stored on laths, undisturbed, in the cellars; later on they will be riddled, disgorged and, at last, tasted.

Ten cuvées to seduce all palates

Made of 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir, the Cuvée René, jewel of the brand and tribute to René Schloesser, Suzanne's father, is blended only with wines that have been maturing for a long time in casks. This ageing has given scents of vanilla and nuts to the wine. Its pale colour certifies the high proportion of wine with good ageing potential. Elegant and refined, this cuvée is wonderful as an aperitive. Its fineness seduced the judges of the most important contests and, especially, won a Silver Medal at the 2009 International Wine and Spirit Competition. The guide Hachette des Vins de France 2010 awarded it one star.
Sébastien Tribaut is proud of the cuvées he created. Amongst them, L’Authentique, a top quality cuvée with 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay. Marketed in 2009, it is made with the 1999, 2000 and 2001 harvests and a first bottling (tirage) of 2002. This champagne needed eight years to reveal its full strength and maturity. Sébastien Tribaut surprisingly recommends to match it with cheese: “Try and you will be astonished by the strength and the taste of wood that can sustain cheeses with the strongest tastes”. Not only is the name Authentique but also the muzzle: “I followed through my reasoning: I placed a string instead of the current muzzle, as my great-grandmother did...” A result that is as original as the match this Champagne suggests.

The House Tribaut-Schloesser also proposes its Brut that cannot be overlooked. Blended with 40% Pinot Noir for the strength, 30% Chardonnay for the fineness and 30% Pinot Meunier for the fruitiness; this Champagne is a classic, at the same time very fruity and slightly full-bodied. It can be tasted at any time of the day. Prized many times (Bronze Medal at the 2009 International Wine and Spirit Competition and Silver Medal at the 2009 World Contest of Bruxelles), the Brut of the House Tribaut-Schloesser got 90 out of 100 in the 2010 Wine Spectator.
But the House is able to seduce all palates. Its Rosé Champagne, which “taste has just a very light touch of red wine”, as Sébastien Tribaut guarantees, experiences growing success. A delight for the dessert. Another Champagne, one of the most original of the range: the 100% Chardonnay. Blended from the one and only white grape of the Champagne region, it unveils subtle aromas of flowers with hawthorn notes, developing to toasted and honey scents when ageing. Gold Medal at the 2010 World's Best Chardonnay Competition, it marvelously matches seafood as well as white meat.

Another way to spend a Sunday with one's family in Romery

Sébastien Tribaut's mother opens daily the Caveau des Tribaut's (Tribaut's Cellar) Visitors come to taste the House's Champagnes in a typical surrounding, totally dedicated to arts and personnalization. This cellar, still in service in 2003, has been turned into a workshop for painting on caps and bottles. Sundays at the Caveau des Tribaut’s are gentle and warm in the winter. A convivial and original way to spend a pleasant Sunday with one's family.

Hélène Dabjat