Barrel Types
French Oak Barrels
Seguin Moreau (The following information has been taken from the Seguin Moreau website.)
"Seguin" and "Moreau" were separate cooperages since the early to mid 1800s, but were eventually merged in 1972 when Remy Martin acquired both businesses. Today the company prides itself on being "the first cooperage to take an interest between wine and wood", and have supported research programs exploring this relationship. The cooperage has also supported research on barrel-making which explored the toasting process and succeeded in identifying specific toasting measures and profiles including hints of wood, vanilla, dry walnut, and smoked almonds.
Vernou (The following information has been taken from the Tonnellerie Vernou website.)
"Tonnellerie Vernou" is a family business founded in 1964 by master cooper, Jean Vernou. It is located in the Cognac region; the birthplace of French Cooperage. They offer a variety French Oak for wine including "Sessile" Oak from Allier, Nevers, and Vosges. Depending on grape varieties and winemaking methods, Tonnellerie Vernou provides customized solutions by combining oak species, grain types and toasting models. Our special tannin hydrolization process similar to what others call "waterbent" is used with French Oak for a more homogeneous ageing, a better fat expression, amplitude in attack and more roundness in the finish.
Radoux (The following information has been taken from the Tonnellerie Radoux website.)
Tonnellerie Radoux Inc. uses the tightest-grain oak selected from different forests in the center of France and the Vosges areas. Radoux's Research and Development team is dedicated to producing new toasting techniques to maximize the oak's beneficial influence on a particular varietal of wine. In 2005, Radoux introduced the Evolution Toast, which results in a wider range of aromas and more respect of the fruit, producing a more fruit-forward wine with increased roundness and mouth feel. In 2006, introduced a new toasting for white wines, "Special Vin Blanc," which has been developed and tested in the Burgundy Region of France. Each product is produced to meet a wine's and winemaker's distinctive style, and personalized service is reinforced by strict quality control to ensure consistency.
American Oak Barrels
Seguin Moreau (The following information has been taken from the Seguin Moreau website and from WineBusiness.com.)
Seguin Moreau American oak barrels are crafted from wood sourced from the northern Midwest. With their aging yard in Perryville, Missouri, Seguin Moreau controls the air-drying, maturation process, toasting and custom coopering to each client's specifications. American Oak is sought after for its high aromatic contribution, and notably a strong proportion of lactones (coconut), this oak has long been used by the American winemakers. American oak is recommended for short aging periods requiring a low contribution of tannin and more aromatic complexity. SEGUIN MOREAU has perfected a specific method of maturation and toasting process which limits the contribution in lactones and develops the other aromatic components.
The U-STAVETM process is available on American oak barrels: A series of U shaped ridges are created on the inside of the barrel. The inside of the staves (shell only) are hollowed with 10mm wide, 5mm deep grooves. This grooving increases the surface of contact between the wine and the wood by 75%. Because of its physical structure, American oak (Quercus Alba) can be sawn rather than split. Its pores close up naturally and eliminate any risk of leakage through cut fibers. Sawing gives a yield of around 40% instead of the 20% imposed by splitting. This explains for a large part the difference in price between French oak barrels and American oak barrels.
Radoux (The following information has been taken from the Tonnellerie Radoux website.)
Radoux's American Oak barrels are sourced from the highest quality white oak from Missouri, Minnesota, and the Appalachian regions. Radoux offers oak barrels, puncheons, tank/casks, as well as Pronektar Oak Alternatives (powder, granules, chips, segments and staves). Radoux's Research and Development team is dedicated to producing new toasting techniques to maximize the oak's beneficial influence on a particular varietal of wine.
- Minnesota Oak: The Minnesota Oak Barrels are used for both red and white wines, the barrels give a roasted nut in the nose, with a long, warm integrated finish in the palate. The oak brings the fruit forward creating a beautiful support with the wine.
- Missouri Oak: The Missouri Oak Barrels are a great all-purpose barrel, for white wines the characteristics are coconut in the nose with a sweet vanilla cream in the palate. For red wines, the fruit is highlighted in the nose and a "juicy" fruit quality in the palate.
- Appalachian Oak: The Appalachian Oak Barrels have great spices in the nose and a lemon cream in the palate. Less sweet oak character which retains the perception of acidity. This is a terrific barrel for Zinfandel and Syrah, but also works well with Chardonnay.
Victoria (The following information has been taken from the Toneleria Victoria website.)
"For Victoria, the quality of the raw material is as essential in the making of good barrels as the quality of grape is for making of fine wines". In 1994, Tonnellerie Radoux created the subsidiary "Toneleria Victoria" located in Spain.
As part of OENEO, the first worldwide wine cooperage group, Victoria has US-based cutting, curing and machining units for American Oak: Perryville (Missouri) and Bloomfield (Iowa). These centers are self-sufficient in wood supply, ensuring security of supply, as well as consistency and traceability of raw materials over time. Victoria, through its integration into the group, comprises a cooperage operation that is capable of directly controlling the quality of the wood, from the selection of the cut trunks until the barrel reaches the customer's wine cellar.
We select the finest wood by applying technical criteria that take into account the geometry of the tree, the absence of any flaws and the grain size according to each species. We then subject them to a curing process to prepare them for outside storage. All of this is undertaken in order to achieve the best organoleptic results and uniformity of the barrels. We only use the internal part of the trunk, removing the bark, alburnum and the core.
The expertise of Victoria personnel, linked to our advanced technology, allows us to validate the toasting process and thus ensure maximum organoleptic consistency which transmits itself to the character of the wine. Thanks to the control of our toasting process, we collaborate with the oenologists in order to provide them with a wide range of aromatic profiles to match their requirements.