Our commitments
Our cooperage is committed to offering innovative, high-quality and sustainable oenological products while ensuring that our expertise is passed on.
As a pioneer with its scientific approach, SEGUIN MOREAU conducts research and innovates to continually improve its understanding of the world of wines and spirits.
With 16 patents to its name, the SEGUIN MOREAU cooperage is number one for patented innovations in the French cooperage industry.
Thanks to work conducted by its researchers, since 1989 SEGUIN MOREAU has been scientifically identifying the substances resulting from the toasting process. The relationship between the wood toasting time, intensity, and changes to the outer layers on the inside of staves has been widely studied. SEGUIN MOREAU thus filed a patent with the INPI in 1991. As a result, by varying the toasting time and intensity, SEGUIN MOREAU has been able to define specific toasting profiles: notes of oak, vanilla, toasted almonds, coffee and smoke mingle with the wines based on the oenological objectives being sought. From this point onwards, the cooperage profession as a whole began differentiating between toasting for mechanical tightening purposes and oenological toasting, known as ‘bousinage’. Bousinage is therefore an operation controlled by expert coopers within the specific framework of the toasting profile selected by our clients.
After consistently improving its products technically and pioneering its vision of the importance of wine tourism for its customers, in 2013 the cooperage patented the clear stave process. This innovation enables visitors to see alcoholic fermentation in large containers, and was unveiled at the famous Château MOUTON ROTHSCHILD winery.
Created and patented by SEGUIN MOREAU, the OENOFIRST and OENOFINISHER ranges are briquettes of compacted chips. This presentation format, dreamt up by our teams, offers numerous benefits: – they weigh 2 kg so can be easily handled a single operator; – compacting reduces clutter, a vital factor for transport, and above all limits wood dust inhalation. Finally, these products are based on recipes designed to achieve a precise organoleptic profile. SEGUIN MOREAU’s expertise in concentrated form!
With these publications, SEGUIN MOREAU is seeking to help improve our understanding of the interactions between wine and wood.
Volatile acidity (VA) is a key factor affecting wine quality. The term is used to describe all (free and salt) forms of volatile acids that could be present in wine. What role does it play, what are the sources of VA in wine, and what are their inherent risks? These are just some of the legitimate questions tackled by the publication.
Par Par Andrei Prida (a), Thomas Oui (b), Benoît Verdier (a), Delphine Winstel (c), Axel Marchal (c)
(a) Tonnellerie Seguin Moreau, Avenue de Gimeux, CS 10225 Merpins.
(b) Groupe ICV Centre!oenologique, 6, route de Carpentras, 84190, Beaumes-de-Venise
(c) Université Bordeaux, Bordeaux INP, INRAE, OENO, UMR 1366, ISVV, F-33140 Villenave d’Ornon, France
Quercotriterpenosides (QTT) are a family of sweet-flavoured compounds (figure 1) that were first found in oak (Marchal, 2011). These molecules have a very low taste detection threshold (590 μg/L for QTT I). Their presence enhances the sensation of ‘sweetness’, ‘richness’ and ‘volume’ in wines matured in contact with oak (in barrels or in contact with oak pieces). The first results obtained regarding QTTs (Marchal et al., 2011) showed that these molecules are stable over time, as the compounds have been detected in wines matured in oak barrels after several years in bottle. However, the kinetics of their extraction process remains poorly understood. To tackle this problem, work has been conducted to study how these compounds are released from different pieces of oak, compared with wood compounds that are already well known. Read the full article in Revue Française d’Oenologie no. 315 to find out more.
Unfortunately, vineyards all over the world can be regularly exposed to fire. The vines and grapes are sometimes contaminated, producing a smoke flavour during tasting. What products can limit this effect? What products are not advised as they reinforce this smoke taint? Discover the results of the tests and analyses conducted by Seguin Moreau’s R&D teams in contacting us.
