The best oak trees for the best staves

Oak has been the expertise of Maisons Charlois & Nièvre Merrain for over 350 years (forestry, tree selection, splitting and seasoning). This expertise is illustrated by the high quality of the staves it produces. The wood for these two Charlois group stave mills comes from the most prestigious French oak forests.

Since 2004, the Charlois group and its stave mills have worked with a keen respect for the raw material and its traceability through PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification). The stave mills procure the wood they need from the National Forest Bureau, selecting the best oak trees. Every tree selected is identified to certify its provenance. This traceability represents added value for the Charlois Group and its stave mills.

At every stage of production, a strict analysis and management protocol for the wood means health risks are controlled. These controls are included in the HACCP approach.

Moreover, the verification plan settled on the woods makes it possible to evaluate and avoid any risk of organoleptic deviance.

Specialists in oak staves and railway sleepers.

In 2008, family spirit, love for the forest and a passion for oak naturally brought together the Malviche and Charlois families, who have been working together for 30 years. The aim was to guarantee Malviche saw mill’s development by using the strength of the entire Charlois group.

Based in Burgundy, in the Morvan Regional Nature Reserve, Les Ateliers du Chêne (called Malviche sawmill until October 2017) are expert in several oak trades. Specialists in manufacturing railway sleepers, Les Ateliers du Chêne also handle logging, purchases and sells logs and makes staves and other oak products for the wine industry (brands Saveurs and Oenosylva).

Keenly concerned with sustainable forest management, Les Ateliers du Chêne operate according to PEFC directives for a responsible forestry.

Transilvania Bois (forestry/stave-making) is situated in northern Romania, at Sighetu Marmatiei in the Maramures region, in Transylvania in the Carpathian Mountains.

Transilvania Bois staves are made from the very best oaks from three historic regions of Romania: Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia. The wood comes from forests along the “magic” 45^th parallel, considered as the latitude of great wines.

The Romanian oaks selected by Transilvania Bois produce extra fine to medium grained wood. The specificity of their geographical origin creates aromatic nuances marked by vanilla.

In 1998, Nièvre Merrain, the group’s second stave production company, was created to satisfy demand from the coopers. The two stave mills became world leaders in the manufacture of French oak staves. Today, this unit produces staves for the group’s cooperages and other coopers too.

United to write tomorrow by your side

Experts in the traditional splitting of staves intended for cooperage, the Gatard and Poletz families naturally joined forces with Tonnellerie Doreau in 1999 and 2012 respectively, sharing the same values of authenticity and mastery of the gesture. From this union was born TMR (Tonnelleries Merranderies Réunies) with the aim of securing wood supplies.

At each stage of production, from the choice of oaks to quality control, the men of Tonnellerie Merranderie Réunies have only one goal: to express their art, to give the best of themselves, to achieve excellence.

More than ever, stave mills and cooperages are united in the service of this excellence!

Tonnellerie Nadalié, founded by Auguste Nadalié in 1902, is dedicated to making a range of barrels that can meet the needs and specific demands of all winemakers. For over a century this family enterprise has mastered, down to the finest detail, the subtle and complex art of barrel making.

The natural elements have an integral part to play in the manufacturing process in which the barrel takes shape under the eye and the hand of man. The earth nourishes the tree, fire and water coax the wood fibres into the desired curve, and air and rain wash over the staves in their open-air drying yards until they are perfectly seasoned. And finally, in the toasting stage, a precise and fiery alchemy gives the barrels their desired organoleptic qualities. In the long, painstaking manufacturing process, no stage is spared the battery of tests and inspections that allow Nadalié to offer a guarantee of exemplary work and irreproachable quality.

Heir to a dynasty of artisans of exceptional skill, the fifth generation of Nadalié has developed its activities with full respect for tradition, whilst adopting a forward looking, modern approach. A winning combination that has forged the excellence and the reputation of this cooperage based in the Medoc.

From the tree to the barrel: a 100% integrated production

Founded in 1906, Tonnellerie Berthomieu has, since 2006, formed part of the only cooperage group whose production chain is entirely integrated, from the management of the forests to the finished product. The reputation of the Charlois group, its intimate knowledge of oak and stave-making and its great expertise are unique assets.

All year long, the group’s buyers roam the French forests in search of the finest oak trees that will be used for making the barrels for the ageing of fine wines and spirits. Painstakingly, one by one, they will evaluate the oaks that have been selected according to a strict management plan, designed to ensure sustainability, forest regeneration and respect for biodiversity.

Established in the Nivernais region, one of the most renowned forests in France for the quality of its oak, Berthomieu’s strength also lies its unique pre-toast steaming method which enables Berthomieu barrels to reveal superbly supple tannins.

Made of France

The Tonnellerie Ermitage specializes in custom-made products. It selects the best oak to make barrels from trees that are at least a century old, from forests sustainably managed by the National Forest Bureau and certified by the PEFC.

The forest, seasoning time, stave selection and toasting processes are all criteria which subtly change the profile of a barrel. Thanks to the steam pre-toasting method, Ermitage barrels reveal very soft tannins and add complexity to the wine. The combination of wine aromas and oak is well-balanced.

For each specific project, the Tonnellerie Ermitage provides precise and tailored tracking, from raw material to delivery.

The tradition of cooperage since 1873

Celebrating the grand traditions and expertise of artisan coopers since 1873, Tonnellerie Saury joined the Charlois group in 2009 and today has imposed itself as one of the most famous cooperages in France.

Present in over 40 countries, Saury coopers meet strict control criteria to guarantee consistent quality and expertise.

Thanks to a completely independent supply of French oak and fully integrated production processes, Saury has total control of the raw materials for its manufacturing.

Every one of its barrels and vats is subjected to rigorous quality controls at every stage of production. In partnership with the Laboratoire Exact, it has developed an analysis protocol to eliminate any possibility of contaminants for every product.

Great French cooperage since 1735

Founded by the oldest Cognac house and today a part of the Charlois group, Tonnellerie Leroi boasts rare expertise in the manufacture of oak barrels for eaux-de-vie and liqueurs. Based in Cognac, its ancestral character and high standards have made it famous in vineyards all over the world.

The selection of oak is the very core of its expertise, meeting the high requirements of distillers and producers. To create this perfect harmony between oak and spirits, only staves from the most beautiful French trees are chosen to make barrels and vats. The mastery of its expert coopers is combined with the nobility of the oak. Perfectly managing the toasting flame to match the ageing objective, the master cooper releases all the aromatic subtlety from the oak to give the spirits their aromas and strength.

The alliance of man and nature leaves nothing to chance when revealing the best facets of wines and spirits.

Patronzie  summits – Sublimate the senses – Offer excellence

Created in 1989 by Thierry Doreau in Cognac (Charente)

From its viticultural origins, Doreau Tonneliers keeps a deep rootedness in its terroir which, since 1989, anchors this cooperage in the heart of Cognac.

Through the manufacture of barrels, Doreau Tonneliers fervently perpetuates the artisanal heritage of the cooperage, whose experience is an art that has been passed down from generation to generation. The traditional wood-fired toasting of Doreau Tonneliers make it possible to carry out bousinages adapted to wines and spirits, while the combination of temperature, duration and color factors ensures their reproducibility.

Each barrel, married to a harmonious toasting, sublimates the typicity of the wines and eaux-de-vie, while respecting their finesse and their identities. Sharing a passion means speaking the same language: respect for raw materials, mastery of the gesture and transmission of knowledge. A commitment carried by everyone at Doreau Tonneliers and which has contributed to its success from the start.

Workshop awarded « Entreprise du patrimoine vivant »

Serving powerful wines

Created in 1964 by Jean Vernou in Julienne (Charente)

The story of Jean Vernou, master cooper at Cognac, begins in 1964 in Julienne, at the heart of the “Fins Bois” cru of the PDO Cognac.

This artisanal cooperage is distinguished by a personal style which culminated in 2010 in the creation of the “Collection Vernou”, one of the collections of wine barrels from Doreau Tonneliers. Their common attraction for wines naturally brought together the Doreau and Vernou cooperages, which pooled their know-how and reinforced their complementarity.

Today, the production of Tonnellerie Vernou is fully integrated into Tonnellerie Doreau, which perpetuates its activity. Vernou is distinguished by typical toasts that have been studied to accompany powerful wines.

Maturing in Vernou barrels reveals all the intensity of the grape varieties and balances the aromatic palette of the wines.

The expertise of a prestigious Spanish cooperage

Tonelería Magreñán formed part of the great tradition of craft barrelmaking since 1820. It was an interest in the wines of Rioja that led Rafael Magreñán (5^th generation) to establish his own cooperage at Alfaro in 1950.

Still located in Alfaro, Tonelería Magreñán is renowned for its traditional skills and and its permanent pursuit of quality for its products both in Spain and over the world.

The expertise and vast experience of its coopers which has been transmitted from generation to generation is Magreñán’s great strength. 

Tonelería Magreñán offers a range of barrels crafted from American, French and European stave oak.

The grandson of the founder of Tonnellerie Nadalié, Jean-Jacques Nadalié, created the Tonnellerie Française (now Nadalié USA) in 1980 at Calistoga in the north of the Napa Valley, in the heart of Californian wine country.

Son and grandson of a Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best French Artisan) in the category of cooperage (Auguste in 1927 and Victor in 1955), Jean-Jacques Nadalié had the edge over his competitors when he decided some forty years ago to export the art of barrel making to America to bring production closer to the Californian vineyards.

To respond to the demand of clients from all around the world, Nadalié USA now use top quality oak staves from the United States, France and Transylvania to make its barrels.

When American oak meets French expertise.

Purchased in 2011 by the Charlois group and located in the Sonoma Valley in California, the cooperage combines American production with French quality to produce the best oak barrels in America. The Charlois Group has exported its exceptional oak know-how to the USA. It combines expertise, quality and sustainable development in local products, promoting the quality of the vineyards and their work.

Charlois Cooperage USA buys oak from forests in Pennsylvania and Missouri through the best American stave mills, selecting the finest grains which will be used to produce barrels.

The first fruit of this intercontinental alliance is the creation of a high-end collection of American oak barrels.

Created in 1960, Tonnellerie Mercier has continued to develop and is now one of the key French cooperages. Competent, dynamic and reactive, the Mercier team spares no effort to meet the needs of its customers and accompany them in their winemaking, ensuring that the wine’s qualities and specific characteristics are enhanced, without being dominated.

To guarantee absolute reliability and traceability, the cooperage’s supply chain is totally integrated. Its splitting workshop, just a stone’s throw from the cooperage, supplies the raw materials necessary for barrel making. To satisfy the needs of its customers, Tonnellerie Mercier offers a wide and diverse range of products, including a specific offer of barrels made from acacia wood, which brings freshness and complexity to white wines.

“Build on the past to construct the future”. It is this expression that resumes the spirit of Tonnellerie Marchive. Installed in the heart of the Cognac region since 1949, it draws on a strong heritage and decades of collaboration with some of the greatest wines in the world.

The company has continued to grow since its inception thanks to its wide range of products for making and ageing wine, including oak for oenology, barrels and large formats. Tonnellerie Marchive spares no effort in its quest for customer satisfaction, with patience in seasoning the raw material and respect for individual requirements, together with consistent quality, expertise and passion. The precious historic and craft heritage that Marchive passes on to its master coopers has earned it worldwide recognition from generations of customers as the undisputed specialist in the sector.

In the heart of Burgundy, Tonnellerie Marsannay accompanies Clos, Maisons and Domaines in their work of ageing and bringing out the best in their wines. With a long history of attachment to the region’s vineyards, Tonnellerie Marsannay upholds its values every day. This translates into respect for the raw material and the unique skills of its master coopers, respect for the integrity of the wines and the demanding work of the winemakers, and a bespoke approach to each client.

The teams at the cooperage work tirelessly to meet their customers’ needs and find the perfect solution that will allow the wines to develop their full potential.

Tonnellerie Chambeaud is a family run cooperage in the Charente region, specialising in Cognac type barrels. These custom-made pieces have been made according to the same principles for decades, combining respect for the product and proximity with their customers.

Chambeaud is above all a small-scale, hand-crafted production where each and every gesture has its importance.

Tonnellerie Bernard, established in 1936 in the heart of the Grande Champagne region of South West France, has maintained time-honoured cooperage skills.

This artisan production workshop, acquired in 2017 by the Charlois group, respects the fundamental precepts of craft barrel making.

The supply of quality French oak from the Charlois group means that it has at its disposition an exceptional stock of staves from which to make high quality barrels with irreproachable traceability.

It perpetuates the technique of natural seasoning of the staves for 20 to 24 months.

With its broad range of barrels, the cooperage is able to respond to specific requirements for wines.

The Art of Cooperage

In the Bertranges Forest, amidst the mature Nivernais plantations of two-hundred-year-old oaks, La Grange practises the art of cooperage.

A symbol of ancestral expertise, La Grange barrels are the masterful work of artisan coopers. Made from the finest oak staves, hand-shaped and hooped, each barrel is a “hand-stitched” vessel, ready to age wines from the greatest vineyards.

A craftsman’s patience and time represent a high quality investment, passing on this mark of excellence to the prestigious collection of La Grange barrels. Every barrel is subjected to perfectly controlled aromatic toasting, an essential stage to highlight all the aromas of the oak.

With ever-increasing standards, every year La Grange creates a limited edition of numbered barrels reserved for the most prestigious vintages.

Workshop awarded « Entreprise du patrimoine vivant »

Tonnellerie Vlad is situated at Sighetu Marmatiei in the Carpathian Mountains in the north of Romania, in the Maramures region near to Transylvania.

Thanks to Transilvania Bois, its integrated forestry and stave-making capability that is an assurance of quality and optimum supply, the barrels produced by the Vlad cooperage are crafted from the best oaks from the three historic regions of Romania: Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia.

Tonnellerie Vlad is also known for its artisanal toasting process, which differs from traditional methods in its use of incandescent oak embers. This type of slow, low temperature toasting develops vanillin aromas that are particularly refined and subtle.

The late 1960’s marks the beginning of the development of premium wine production in California. Essential instruments for the production of great wines, French oak barrels quickly become a must-have and a first wave of French coopers, including the Nadalié family, sets up on site in order to better answer the increasing demand.

Barrel Builders was created in 1972, in Napa Valley, to meet the needs of this new profession, particularly in terms of specific supplies for cooperage. The company also offers barrels, vats and casks produced in part by Tonnellerie Marchive (Nadalié family) as well as a range of services directly related to the world of cooperage. In particular, it shall provide the repair and reconditioning of oak barrels and large formats. Barrel Buiders also completes its offer with a range of oak products for enology. After many years of good collaboration, the company was acquired by Nadalié USA in June 2019.

Restoration and recycling of oak barrels

Doreau l’Atelier gathers a team of skilled coopers exclusively dedicated to the maintenance and restoration of winemakers’ barrels, according to the artisanal cooperage know-how.

Doreau l’Atelier’s coopers use tools from the past. They perfectly know how to analyze the damage caused by time to these oak containers and then make the necessary repairs to qualitatively extend their lifespan.

This rare know-how is an integral part of the Charlois group’s process of valorization and optimization of oak raw material.

Doreau l’Atelier also offers solutions for purchasing and selling used barrels for wines and spirits.

Located in Scotland near Glasgow, OAKWOOD COOPERAGE was created by Brent Bowie in 2018 and is spread across 3 locations: Keith, Uddingston and Lanarkshire.

That company is specialized in recovery and recycling of barrels for whisky and in international trading of used barrels (Bourbon, Jeres, Porto…).

Those used oak barrels enter into a new life cycle and thus extend the virtuous circle of sustainable management. The same oak barrel can be more than 100 years old and have participated in the aging of a great wine and then a renowned spirit.

Formed on the banks of the river Kelvin in Glasgow in 1963, Kelvin Cooperage relocated to Louisville, Kentucky over 30 years ago to benefit from the city’s proximity to Bourbon Country. A family-owned business, Kelvin Cooperage is an undisputed reference in bourbon barrel production. With a heritage passed down from generation to generation, Kelvin Cooperage has preserved exceptional craftsmanship. The company is particularly distinguished by its traditional practice of oak-fire toasting and charring its bourbon barrels, imparting a unique richness and complexity to the spirit they contain. Kelvin Cooperage barrels are highly valued by the most discerning spirit producers who recognize the exceptional quality and authenticity of their production.
The company is also well known for the import and export of used spirit barrels for distilleries around the world.

The unique expertise and experience of these artisan vat makers, implanted in the Charente region of France since 1870, enables them to build the very finest wooden vats and tuns (foudres).

After a rigorous selection from oaks of more than 200 years old, grown in the most majestic French forests, this noble raw material is prepared to best advantage in a specialized and fully integrated sawmill. It is then worked entirely by hand.

French oak vats and tuns are an expression of luxury. They are the embodiment, in the winemaking sphere and in the eyes of world, of the prestige and high-quality work that is involved in the making of a fine wine.

Nadalié Oak Add Ins offers a wide range of tools for oaking, fermenting and ageing wine, that provide solutions to all types of oenological requirements.

Quality raw material, commitment to traceability and high production standards are the pillars of the brand. Wood fire toasted, Oak Add Ins products are the result of extensive research and development.

The winemaking power of oak

Œnosylva produces a range of French oak products for winemaking, where the raw material comes from the most prestigious mature plantations in France and brings a very qualitative organoleptic effect thanks to stave wood that is naturally seasoned outdoors. Just like the cooperages, a minimum of 24 months are required to season the staves, in areas protected from pollution in the heart of Nivernais country.

Œnosylva products are finely calibrated to perfectly “dose” the aromatic and tannic input of the oak during vinification or ageing. Three toasting techniques bring richness and complexity to the wine and a subtle aromatic and structural profile that gives toasted notes (tobacco, roasting, spices), sweet notes (fruit, toasted sweetness, vanilla) and rich notes (brioche, nougat, cocoa).

At every production stage, Œnosylva carefully checks the wood and packaging, eliminating any risk of contamination.

To meet winemakers expectations, Tonnellerie Saury enriches its offer with a range of oak for enology : «Saveurs» ; a clear organoleptic answer for wine aging intended to be consumed younger.

Together with its R&D department and its internal laboratory, Tonnellerie Saury brings forward the main organoleptic and aromatic profiles requested by winemakers, thanks to various blends of toasting and shapes of the offered products.

Transporting and delivering barrels that are destined for wines demands particular care. The prestigious nature of the customers and the quality of the barrels mean that skilful handling is primordial.

Since 2006, the Charlois group has offered a customised logistics service adapted to the needs of each of its customers.

In 2017, the Charlois group created a dedicated logistical structure wholly devoted to its barrels: Charlois Premium Logistique (CPL).

Created in 1996 in the heart of the Bordeaux region, STMD joined the Charlois group in 2022. STMD has 20,000 m2 of covered and temperature-controlled buildings which allow it to offer a highly secure storage, transport and logistics dedicated to wines and spirits.

Engineering

Since 2006, the Charlois group has been developing high-performance machines for saw mills, stave mills and cooperages. The design office is in Murlin, where its own workshop manufactures, maintains and repairs these machines in a continuous drive towards exclusivity, quality and safety. TECHNOAK, dedicated to this activity, has been. created in 2016.

A food industry specialist

Since 1998, Laboratoire Exact has been practising its expertise in aroma characterisation, researching organoleptic flaws and food safety. A privileged operator in the food industry, it works with many professionals: winemakers, oenologists, coopers, stave mills, cork makers and wine dealers, wood producers for the wine industry, technical and professional organisations…

With its teams of experts in chemical component trace analysis, it boasts the latest technological innovations in analytical equipment for quick, reliable and economical assessments and dosages.

Accredited by COFRAC, Laboratoire Exact meets international standards and ISO 17025 requirements for contaminants, aromas and sensory deviations (data available on www.cofrac.fr).

The laboratory’s Research & Innovation department supports the group in its endeavours to completely master the oak, from young shoot to mature tree, scientifically, technologically and industrially – always with respect for the group’s emblem: the tree itself.