Champagne Erick Schreiber
Three things make this house stand out for me from all the noise, and none of them is marketing:
First: Kimméridgien soil. This is the soil most people associate with Chablis, bluish-gray marl limestone studded with fossilized oysters from the Jurassic period. Few people even know it exists in Champagne. It appears in the south, in the Vallée de la Seine and the Côte des Bar, exactly where Schreiber is located. For Pinot Noir, this means a particular kind of tension: mineral, slightly taut, less fat-fruity than the chalkier soils further north. The house says it clearly: "Notre sol géologique le 'Kimméridgien' de la vallée de la Seine apporte une grande finesse à tous nos Pinots Noirs." Period.
Second: Demeter + Ecocert. Both certifications. This doesn't mean "a bit environmentally conscious," but rather: organic according to Ecocert standards (no synthetic pesticides, no chemical fertilizers, annual inspection) plus biodynamics according to Demeter (closed farm organism, biodynamic preparations, lunar calendar for cellar work). Both in parallel, this is a step beyond HVE and VDC. In Champagne, a double-digit percentage of houses have HVE certification, fewer than two percent are Demeter-certified.
Third: Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris. In the MK Minéral Rosé 2020, there are 20% Pinot Blanc and 20% Pinot Gris. These two grapes are permitted but rare in Champagne, most houses work exclusively with the three main varieties. Four grape varieties in one cuvée, two of them rarities, is a statement.
Who and where
The house bears the name Erick Schreiber and is located in the Côte des Bar / Vallée de la Seine in the Aube. Léa Remy signs the emails, she's the communication person at the house. I can't yet clearly reconstruct from the available material how exactly generation and succession are organized, that's among the questions that will be incorporated here after the house visit.
Vignoble & Soil
Region: Aube, Côte des Bar, Vallée de la Seine.
Soil: Kimméridgien. The same marl as in Chablis (geologically speaking, precisely the Kimméridgien stage from the Upper Jurassic, ~150 million years old). In Champagne, it appears almost exclusively in the southern part, the more northern Cru villages of the Marne sit on younger chalk substrate. Anyone who tastes a Pinot Noir on Kimméridgien against a Pinot Noir on Reims chalk notices the difference fairly quickly: Kimméridgien brings a leaner, saltier minerality, the chalk a broader, softer one.
Grape varieties: Pinot Noir dominates (91% in the Initial Brut), Chardonnay plays only a supporting role, plus the two rarities Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris (in the MK Rosé). Pinot Meunier appears in low single digits.
Certifications: Ecocert + Demeter. Both are documented on the official technical sheets of the cuvées. Specifically, this means:
- Ecocert is the largest French organic certifier. The requirements are EU organic standards: no synthetic pesticides, no systemic fungicides, no chemical fertilizers, annual external inspection, five-year conversion lead time.
- Demeter is the biodynamic label. In addition to all organic requirements: use of biodynamic preparations (Horn manure 500, Horn silica 501 and six others), treatment of the winery as a closed organism, consideration of the lunar calendar in vineyard and cellar work, own animals or animal manure in the farm cycle.
Anyone doing both in parallel has made a decision, and the effort is real because two separate audit cycles run per year.
The Cuvées
Here are two cuvée profiles from the complete technical sheets of the house. The range has more cuvées (visible on champagne-schreiber.fr), when I've had them in the glass, I'll add them here.
Initial Brut
The entry-level cuvée, and at the same time what the house itself classifies as "champagne de toutes les fêtes."
- Grape varieties: 91% Pinot Noir, 4.6% Chardonnay, 2.7% Pinot Gris, 1.7% Pinot Meunier
- Assemblage of vintages 2023, 2022, 2021 (no vintage designation)
- 18% reserve wine
- 3.7% barrel aging (small wood component, gives the cuvée texture without making it woody)
- Dosage 4.75 g/l, formally Brut, practically at the lower end
- Certification shown on the sheet: Ecocert + Demeter
- Storage: 3 to 5 years according to the house
- Format: 37.5 cl / 75 cl / 150 cl
House description: "fruité, gourmand, expressif." What the sheet additionally mentions, and what I find refreshing, is the house's own glass recommendation: "verres assez évasés à la base qui se referment au-dessus". So tulip glasses, not flutes. This fits with everything else I recommend about Champagne glasses.
MK Minéral Rosé 2020 (M.K. 157-20)
The premium cuvée, and the one with the most interesting stylistic decisions.
- Grape varieties: Rosé de Saignée with 4 varieties: 40% Pinot Noir, 20% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Blanc, 20% Pinot Gris
- Vintage: 2020 (true vintage)
- 51.75% barrel aging, over half the cuvée has wood contact. This is very unusual for rosé, which in Champagne is usually made in a reductive-fresh style
- Dosage 1.60 g/l, de facto Brut Nature
- Certification: Ecocert + Demeter
- Storage: 7 to 10 years, so explicitly positioned as a cuvée with aging potential
- Format: 75 cl
Three statements in one bottle: four grape varieties (with Pinot Blanc + Gris as rarities), more than half in wood (against the general reductive trend for rosé), and barely any dosage (for a house whose range otherwise runs around 5 g/l). These aren't random parameters, these are decisions.
House description: "Richesse, minéralité et grande finesse en bouche."
Facts
| House | Champagne Erick Schreiber |
| Category | RM (Récoltant-Manipulant) |
| Region | Aube, Côte des Bar, Vallée de la Seine |
| Soil | Kimméridgien (Chablis relationship) |
| Certifications | Ecocert (Organic) + Demeter (Biodynamic) |
| Main grape variety | Pinot Noir (~91% in Initial Brut) |
| Rarities | Pinot Blanc + Pinot Gris (20% each in MK Rosé) |
| Documented cuvées | Initial Brut · MK Minéral Rosé 2020 |
| Communication | Léa Remy |
| Mail (Communication) | gestion@champagne-schreiber.fr |
| Mail (general) | champagne.schreiber@orange.fr |
| Website | champagne-schreiber.fr |
| Glass recommendation (House) | Tulip shape, "évasés à la base qui se referment au-dessus" |
| Tasted cuvées (TCG) | 0, sample en route |
Sources for this portrait: Technical sheets directly from the house (Initial Brut, MK Minéral Rosé 2020), photo material (three images in the initial package, more announced by Léa, jardin extérieur avec bar, intérieur, salle des fûts), email exchange with Léa Remy from 05/19/2026. Tasting notes and interview responses to follow after sample bottles arrive.