The birth of Xavier Loriot Champagne was made possible by the will of one man: George Jobert. Born in 1891, this young wine-grower with a strong temperament cultivated a small plot of vines in Binson-et-Orquigny, a village with a population of 500 lying between two slopes of vines, surrounded by forests. His wife Raymonde Deniz, born in 1899, was also from the village. Her family grew 1.5 hectares of vines on the same slopes. The couple worked together to take the family farm forwards. Some years after meeting, the couple had their only child, a little girl named Paule Jobert.
Paule Jobert was born in 1920 in Binson-and-Orquigny, in the Marne valley. The young woman took the reins of her parents’ business alongside her husband, Gilbert Clouet. With two hectares of the family farm plus Gilbert’s hectare, the couple cultivated three hectares.
Accompanied by their four children – Danielle, Bernard, Maryse and Hervé – the couple
decided to join forces and invest in an additional hectare of vines to increase production, moving from three to four hectares. Inspired by the same single desire, the couple decided to launch Gilbert Clouet Champagne.
The years passed and the business prospered. In the fifties, Paule and Gilbert decided to leave one hectare to each child so they could, in turn, be bold enough to chase their dreams.
Danielle, the eldest in the family, wanted to impose her view of the Champagne region and champagne wines. Accompanied by Roger Loriot, whom she married in 1959, the couple combined their heritage to work three hectares of vines on the slopes of the Marne valley. The family grew with the birth of Xavier, their only child.
Like her parents before her, Danielle invested in an additional hectare with her husband. When the time came, the couple threw themselves into creating their own brand, and Champagne RC Loriot was officially launched in 1961. To limit their investment, initially they decided to have their grapes pressed at the local cooperative. Once this stage was complete, Champagne RC Loriot recovered the fruit of its labour to carry on with winemaking.
After some years, Xavier Loriot succeeded his parents. Inspired by the same passion, he cultivated his parents’ four hectares under the RC Loriot brand. In 1961, he met Christine Marsault, a local girl also from the world of wine-growing.
Together, they developed the family business, growing more than five hectares of vines. Their unfailing determination led them to undertake their own project, creating a new brand. In 1981, Xavier Loriot Champagne was officially established. Wishing to create an operation in their own image, the couple decided to build everything, from the fermenting tank to the press, including the storage buildings. The following decade was full of good news, with the birth of their two daughters: Charlène in 1986 and Marine in 1990.
To gain independence and improve the quality of their champagnes, Xavier and Christine decided to invest. They replaced their 2,000 kg press with a Vaslin 4,000 kg model. But their cutting-edge vision invited them to push back the technical boundaries. In 2003, they purchased a latest-generation 6,000 kg Diemme press, the only one of its kind in the world at the time. This total control of production allows them to make cuvées coming closer to the typical features of their terroir.
Benefiting from his parents’ experience, over the years Xavier decided to invest in more hectares of vines, developing the estate from 5.5 to 10.5 hectares.
Xavier Loriot can now count on the support of Charlène and Marine in the future of the brand. This fifth generation of independent wine-growers is even more determined to make Xavier Loriot Champagne an essential player in Champagne.