Tonnellerie Baron 1875, back to home

The catalogue

Our French oak barrels

Our high quality French barrels serving winemakers and distillers around the world

Our rigorous process of selection and drying of wood, associated with our precision of production of each barrel, offers us in 2018 the possibility of determining the aromatic barometer of our different typologies of barrels. A precious aid to selection, the aromatic trend of our barrels expresses their identity at the heart of a range adapted to the different needs of our customers.

The Red Selection film

The aromatic properties of our barrels

Classic

GrainMedium tight

Wood
Assemblage of prestigious forests
Drying
24 months
Toast
Blonde M, ML, M+, Heavy

Fruit preservation, volume, moderate impact on structure, nice sweetness on finish.

Technical sheets

Tradition

GrainTight

Wood
Assemblage of prestigious forests
Drying
30 months
Toast
Blonde M, ML, M+, Heavy

Fruit preservation, emphasizing fresh red fruit spectrum and minerality. Focuses existing fruit profile and supports seamless midpalate and long, fine finish while giving some fresh bakery aromas.

Technical sheets

Premium

GrainExtra tight

Wood
Assemblage of prestigious forests
Drying
36 months
Toast
House medium long

Fruit preservation, enhancement of creaminess and palate texture, complexity and spice, brioche and fresh baked pastry aromas

Technical sheets

Culte

For long-lived luxury wines necessitating a minimum of 18 months barrel ageing

GrainExtra tight grain selection

Wood
Assemblage of prestigious forests
Drying
36 + months
Toast
House medium extra long

Fat, density and creaminess while respecting the fruit

Technical sheets

1875 – 2025

“Tribute to French Coopers” seal

Tribute to French Coopers

To be 150 years old is to pay tribute to the generations that have gone before us, and to be concerned about those that will follow. It means passing on and encouraging future craftsmen in the cooperage trades, and paying tribute to French coopers and their savoir-faire.

1875, Henri Baron founded the Tonnellerie, the beginning of a wonderful family history now in the care of the fifth generation. Nicolas Tombu, Xavier Baron and Lionel Kreff wished to celebrate this centenary in the greatest discretion. To this end, they have chosen to support a class of CAP Tonnellerie students from the CFA in Cognac, by accompanying them on 3 days of study, from forestry to tasting. A “Tribute to French Coopers” barrel was marketed for the occasion, with part of the profits going to support the promotion.

We hold 150 years of history in our hands.

Five generations have passed on the craft,
kindling, tending, and renewing the same flame.
Five stories of men, wood, and barrels,
each bound by the same devotion — to precision, patience, and perfection.

Tonnellerie Baron has continued to forge its path in Les Gonds in Charente-Maritime, a land of vines and know-how. Often in silence. But with determination.

1875 – 2025: one hundred and fifty years of transmission, five generations of coopers

Tribute to French Coopers barrel seen from above: head engraved “Tonnellerie Baron 1875” and “2025”, “Tribute to French Coopers” seal and braided chestnut hoops
Close-up of the Tribute barrel head: engravings “Tonnellerie Baron 1875”, “2025” and “Tribute to French Coopers” seal Detail of the braided chestnut hoops of the Tribute barrel and their tricolor braid Macro of the “Tribute to French Coopers” seal engraved in the oak of the barrel head

Quality control

100 %* From January 1, 2021 we analyze and guarantee that 100% of our barrels are free of any detectable haloanisoles and halophenols* at the completion of the production process

* Detection thresholds are available upon request

Detail of the ALMA vat: black-hooped oak staves set on a ceramic base, with stainless steel valve

Innovation

ALMA – Raise with care

ALMA is the perfect symbiosis between the complexity of oak and the precision of ceramic to preserve the purity of the fruit.

Born from the craft of coopers and their knowledge in great wine aging and Vinification Intégrale®, ALMA is the fusion of ceramic and oak in an ovoid format. This new concept, created by our design office on site, offers a unique solution for the fermentation and aging of red or white wines.

ALMA technical sheetPDF

The wood

The art of patience

The necessary time required for each step in the production process requires patience and reflection.

Several centuries are necessary for the perfect maturity of the most beautiful oaks used for the manufacture of our barrels. The staves will be dried in the open air between 24 and 36 months. The wine will then be aged up to 3 years. Patience is an obvious virtue in the cooper profession.

The mild Charente climate then provides our wood yards with the perfect humidity and sunlight to obtain flawless wood. Three summers are needed for the chemical and physical transformations of our staves.

24
months

Medium tight grain
Classic

30
months

Tight grain
Tradition

36
+ months

Extra tight grain
Premium, Culte, Tribute

Tonnellerie Baron cooper using a compass to trace the curve of a stave on oak staves
The cooper’s compass, Les Gonds workshop

Light the fire

Fire and water

The rigorous control of the elements by our coopers, offers toast qualities in perfect correlation with the expectations of our customers. Reproducible quality thanks to state-of-the-art technology whose precision guarantees the conformity of toasting from one barrel to the next.

The toasting areas are equipped with lasers (thermometers and pyrometers) that measure the temperature of each barrel and display it, in real time, on control screens. This allows us to have perfect toasting quality, reproducible from one year to the following. This also helps to assist the eye and hand of the cooper who uses his know-how, to adjust the flame using only pieces of oak as the fuel for the fire.

  1. Un tonnelier de la Tonnellerie Baron cercle les douelles de chêne d'une barrique en cours de montage, devant une pile de merrains

    Mounting “mise en rose”

  2. Barrique en cours de chauffe au-dessus d'un brasier de bois de chêne, au poste de chauffe mécanique de l'atelier

    Mechanical toasting

  3. Intérieur d'une barrique porté au rouge pendant la chauffe aromatique, un brasero allumé sous le fût

    Aromatic toasting “bousinage”

  4. Serrage final des cercles d'une barrique de chêne sous les mâchoires de la presse de l'atelier

    Final hoop tightening

The different stages of the toasting process
Row of barrels being toasted over the fires of the Tonnellerie Baron workshop, a cooper at work
The toasting areas, Les Gonds workshop

The resource

For each barrel manufactured, we replant one oak

The history of an oak spans centuries; our passage must not jeopardize the future of our craft or the preservation of our forests.

As we roam the forests year-round to select our oaks, we feel deeply concerned with their renewal and the continuation of their heritage and biodiversity. Since 2018, we have chosen to replant one oak for each barrel produced — about 15,000 trees per year.

Pond and trees of the Tonnellerie Baron arboretum in Les Gonds, in late-day light

Go further

Tonnellerie Baron around the world

30% of the production of barrels is destined for aging of the best wines in France and prestigious Cognac houses, while 70% is exported to highly reputable wineries in Tuscany, California, Australia, South Africa, Spain, Chile, and Argentina, and to distillers.

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