Tonnellerie Ô
Tonnellerie Ô celebrates the integrity of traditional, artisanal barrel making while taking advantage of the newest tools to optimize consistency and precision.
At the heart of our unique cooperage resides a 2,500 square foot brick-encircled toasting room. Just as a winemaker depends on his or her own keen faculties, experience and artistry to create consistently exceptional wine from grapes, our coopers rely on their strengths as well. Our coopers depend on the mastery of their senses, discipline and talent to maintain ideal fire temperatures and judge exactly how long to toast each barrel in order to coax the desired balance of flavors from our oak. We offer several toast profiles including blond, medium, medium plus, heavy and proprietary toasts.
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French Oak Barrels
Master Cooper Selections
Winemakers who participate in this one-of-a-kind program will accompany Tonnellerie Ô Master Cooper Quinn Roberts on an all-expenses paid trip to France. Together, they will visit the oak forests, meet the families who have been crafting premium quality staves for generations, and receive in-depth forest education. They will also visit the family-owned stave mills to view the entire process from cutting to sorting to seasoning where you will personally choose your custom lot.
After the oak staves have been delivered to the cooperage in Benicia, winemakers will follow the barrel making process from beginning to end, and will determine their own custom formats and barrel toasting.
This program requires a minimum purchase of twelve barrels. Please contact Santé Beverage Supply for the necessary arrangements.
Futaie Selections
Tonnellerie Ô produces two different Futaie barrel formats from premium oak staves chosen exclusively from trees harvested from within the French National Forest System, the Forêt Domaniale. The French National Office of Forestry (ONF) has overseen for centuries the management of forests in northern and central France, resulting in oak wood of the highest quality available anywhere in the world, prized for its fine grain and rare uniformity.
For our Futaie barrels, we work with family-owned stave mills that have been crafting staves of the highest quality for generations. Our proprietary toasting process is designed to bring out the very best, most natural expression of the barrel.
Winemaker Selections
Tonnellerie Ô produces for our Winemaker Selection series, sourced from ancient oak forests throughout northern and central France. We maintain long-time partnerships with family-run French mills that have been practicing their craft for generations. These partners provide us with premium staves, year after year.
We source the unfinished staves for our Bordeaux Export and Bordeaux Élevage barrels from Le Massif des Trois Forêts and the Allier Forests. For the Bordeaux Élevage barrels we sort the staves to ensure that only extra fine grain wood is used to raise the barrel.
For our Bordeaux Château Ferré and Château Tradition barrels we source exclusively from Tronçais and Jupilles, hand sorting and selecting the highest quality, extra fine grain staves to raise these premium barrels.
Our Burgundy Export and Burgundy Crème DLC barrels we source from Bertranges and other forests throughout central France. For our Burgundy Crème DLC barrels, we hand sort and select only the highest quality, extra fine grain staves to raise these premium barrels.
The toast profiles of these barrels can be customized to your specifications in collaboration with our Master Cooper.
House Selections
Tonnellerie Ô produces two different formats for our House Selection barrels, a Bordeaux Export and a Burgundy Export, and offers four basic toast profiles. Staves for our house selections come from ancient oak forests throughout northern and central France, nationally or locally-owned sites that have been carefully cultivated for centuries in order to produce oak of the highest quality. We also maintain long-time partnerships with family-run French mills that have been practicing their craft for generations. These partners provide us with staves of the highest quality, year after year.
American Oak Barrels
Regional Selections
Tonnellerie Ô produces two barrel types from four regions of the central and eastern US, part of the largest contiguous hardwood forest in the world. We enjoy long-term relationships with family-run stave mills in Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Virginia. These trusted partners provide us with white oak of the highest quality, seasoned for 24 months.
Oak from the northern forests, which lie along the same line of latitude as some of the great forests in France, offer a unique and elegant flavor profile. Oak from the Appalachian regions shows a more classic American oak character.
Single Mill Designate Selections
For the Mill Designate Selections, Tonnellerie Ô produces two different barrel types, selecting oak from our trusted, family-owned stave mill partners in Minnesota, Missouri, and Virginia. These partners provide us with white oak of the highest quality. When we craft a barrel from a single stave supplier, we isolate their wood sourcing, stave production and seasoning for a clear, mill-designated personality.
We purposefully extend the aging to 36 months to achieve the most elegant expression of American oak.
Hybrid Selections
Tonnellerie Ô produces two different hybrid barrel types to offer customers the best characteristics of both French and American oak in a single barrel. One is a French oak barrel with American oak heads, and the other is the opposite—an American oak barrel with French oak heads.