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Expertise

From ancestral cooperage techniques, to the precision laboratory and to the forest, SEGUIN MOREAU’s expertise has been shaped over time.

Bois Seguin Moreau

WHERE CRAFTSMANSHIP MEETS SCIENCE

Thanks to its high-precision in-house laboratory, SEGUIN MOREAU uses science to help develop all of its product ranges: barrels, large containers and wood for oenology. And so, from forest to barrel and from barrel to the profile of an oaked wine, see how our knowledge has developed over the past 40 years.

  • 1980
    80's
  • 1990
    90's
  • 2000
    2000
  • 2010
    2010
  • The 80's
    1980
    KNOWLEDGE OF OAK

    Researchers analysed the structure and different flavour compounds and aromatic compounds in wood. These studies showed:

    – the uses of sessile oak for wine maturation and English oak for maturing brandy,

    – the importance of selecting trees using grain-based criteria,

    – the vital added value of the bousinage toasting stage,

    – the key aspects of the proactive oak maturation process.

  • The 90's
    1990
    WINE-WOOD INTERACTIONS

    A better understanding of these interactions enabled three major advances:

    – discovery of the key role played by wine-wood synergy in wines’ aromatic and phenolic compound content,

    – adapting barrel preparation and usage methods to their oenological functions for both fermentation and maturation,

    – the benefit of maturation on the lees in barrels and of yeast stirring for the aromatic quality of white wines.

  • The 2000's
    2000
    WOOD’S ‘OENOLOGICAL POTENTIAL’

    Building on twenty years of research, our understanding of wine-wood interactions, paired with an improved knowledge of oak’s chemical structure, helped us perfect the ICÔNE process. This process helps determine the ‘oenological potential’ of oak, in other words, its ability to produce a specific oaked profile for a particular wine category.

  • The 2010's
    2010
    SCIENTIFIC PARTNERSHIP

    Building on its renowned, ancestral expertise as a cooperage, SEGUIN MOREAU sought to gain a better understanding of the oak, wine and oxygen interactions involved in barrel maturation. And so, from 1978 onwards, the cooperage decided to form a scientific partnership with the Bordeaux Faculty of Oenology (ISVV). This partnership is still in place today, and has produced numerous developments and innovations vital to the winemaking and spirit worlds.

Bois Seguin Moreau

OUR WORKSHOPS ACROSS THE WORLD

Historically a Cognac-based cooperage, SEGUIN MOREAU opened workshops in Napa (USA) in 1994 then in Chagny (Burgundy) in 2008 to be able to support their clients as closely as possible. They also incorporated stave mills upstream of production.

OUR PRODUCTION WORKSHOPS

  • BARREL WORKSHOPS

    From milling staves to assembling barrels, our master coopers work meticulously and with the utmost respect for tradition throughout the manufacturing process. During toasting, every sense is employed to ensure that the result meets client, quality and reproducibility needs. Our workshops in Merpins, Chagny and Napa use specialised technical processes that combine cooperage tradition and modernity. Each barrel then undergoes a careful finishing process and is checked before leaving our workshops.
    We offer unique expertise, preserved and developed thanks to various training programmes for new apprentices.

  • LARGE CASK AND VAT WORKSHOPS

    Exclusively in Cognac, this dedicated cooperage for large vats boasts expert large barrel makers, many of whom have many years of proven experience. The master coopers precisely select and cut up batches of century-old oak that has matured. Like cabinetmakers, they mill the components of future vats and casks one piece at a time. Successively dismantled and then reassembled in the finishing workshop, these wooden ‘vessels’ (10 to 750hl) are then given their final decoration, before being shipped to the winery where our coopers can also travel for final assembly with a custom project in Europe, America, Asia or elsewhere. For several decades, they will serve as winemaking, assembly or maturation tools for wines and brandies, which they store in ideal conditions.

  • ALTERNATIVE PRODUCTION

    Our alternative products are a high-end oenological answer to all oaking methods. Our research progress into the interactions between wine and oak has enabled us to develop products that suit different positions within a range of wines or spirits. Using the same oak selection processes as the rough staves designed for making SEGUIN MOREAU barrels, each of these products offers a different touch tailored to your oenological objectives.

  • SEGUIN MOREAU’S STAVE MILLS

    As part of its commitment to the quality of the rough staves entering its maturation area, SEGUIN MOREAU has been incorporating elements upstream of the cooperage since the 1980s. With three stave mills located in France and the USA, we have ensured control over this key transformation point in the manufacturing process.

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    Scientific approach

    At each stage in manufacturing, SEGUIN MOREAU challenges, analyses and improves its techniques to supply exceptional products.

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    Our patents and publications

    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.

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    Our commitments

    Our cooperage is committed to offering innovative, high-quality and sustainable oenological products while ensuring that our expertise is passed on.

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