Situated in Bordeaux’s wine growing region, Tonnellerie Quintessence intertwines cherished, centuries-old French traditions with modern technology and defines the art of cooperage.
Master French coopers craft the barrels with experience and the reassurance of statistical controls. These craftsmen have apprenticed to learn their ancient art—and their skill is rooted in the reverence they feel for wine.
True to our passion for excellence, Tonnellerie Quintessence crafts barrels from the finest oak, chêne français, milled at France’s most sophisticated stave operation. Expert wood buyers take great care in wood selection, searching the great forests for straight, tight grain oak.
Once chosen, merrandiers split and saw the wood before it is leisurely air-seasoned up to 36 months, heightening its aromatic potential. While you’re centering attention on the fruit, we’re nurturing the perfect oak for your wine.
The aroma and flavors imparted into your wine are the most important aspect of coopering. Tonnellerie Quintessence uses a monitoring system to assure uniformity and to guide the master cooper through the toasting process.
Certification is our promise of quality. Our adherence to strict guidelines is certainly impressive as we provide documentation of wood origin, grain tightness, stave age and toasting.
The most perfect manifestation of a quality or object defines the word quintessence. Certainly the essence of perfection, Tonnellerie Quintessence crafts a rare barrel that stunningly blends contemporary expertise with the style expected of a French cooperage.
The art lives on.
Traceability
Our footsteps lead to the forest—to the oak that will one day become a Tonnellerie Quintessence barrel.
By maintaining 100% control of wood sourcing via our own stave mills, we are able to retrace our steps to determine the exact lineage from tree to barrel to you.
With PEFC certification, Tonnellerie Quintessence's stave mill guarantees origin and sustainable sourcing. Once the wood is processed for barrel production, each lot is coded to record the date of production, age of the wood, grain type and wood origin. Even after the barrel is in use at the cellar, a discrete barcode attached to the barrel allows us to trace its entire history.
Our stave mill is also certified by Bureau Veritas for natural air drying. This third-party audit verifies the length of our wood seasoning.
It's this attention to detail that leads to the perfection of a Tonnellerie Quintessence barrel, an effort we believe is well worth making.
Consistency
Each barrel tells a story. Its words are spoken by
the wine itself, as notes and themes and shades of meaning.
The cooper’s craft is to shape these words and the
coopers of Tonnellerie Quintessence are experts in
this art. By employing sophisticated technology
and time-honored techniques, they create barrels
that consistently meet the strict standards for quality assurance as measured by eight quality control stations. And upon perfecting them, to repeat them, so the story can be faithfully told time after time after time.
Which is how stories such as ours become classics.
Customization
A wine’s personality is myriad and multi-faceted. So it only follows that the barrel would be equally complex.
By working closely with you, Tonnellerie Quintessence is able to create barrels which complement and enhance the unique characteristics of your vintage.
Our coopers partner with you to blend and balance a set of ten distinct variables—such as barrel style, capacity, toasting method, esquive,
allegé and grain type.
A personal logo, company specific coding or
other request may be laser engraved. This barrel “personality” is then archived, so that each of your barrels will be crafted in accordance to your needs each year.
