Tonnellerie Tremeaux - The barrels and their origin
September 22 and 23, 2021: Jonas Eder and Helmut Keul for Wilhelm Eder GmbH in Burgundy
French coopers' craftmanship
For several years now we offer barrels made by Tonnellerie Tremeaux. The barrels are a prime example of French coopers’ craftmanship (not to say art) in it´s most contemporary form.
To be able to offer these barrels is a privilege for us and advantageous for our customers. As we are very well aware of what Tremeaux-barrels are capable of, we, of course, share this information.
But we are driven towards the questions of „how“ and „who“. We are keen to meet the people behind the finesse and to maybe get a glimpse behind the veil of the cooper´s genius loci.
Beaune
The city of Beaune with the preserved city walls, the Hospices built in the 15th century and the historic city of the same era is a true gem (which is probably why our recently retired chancellor of the time, Angela Merkel, stopped by on her farewell tour just a few weeks later).
Our business partner and host, Ludovic Tremeaux, makes time for us, which is not to be taken for granted nor can be praised highly enough. (Particularly because most of our conversations are in English; I could not help but harbor the suspicion that, even though he claims otherwise, the quality of our French causes him mild pain.)
Benjamin Beaune (Sales Representative), Jonas Eder, Ludovic Tremeaux
The Tonnellerie Tremeaux itself, is in its appearance entirely the opposite of the city of Beaune, can hardly be surpassed in terms of sobriety and modern efficiency. But: This is where the work is done for the „joie de vivre“ the wine bestows upon us later.
Surprisingly few employees in a spick and span factory building manufacture the barrels in a process supported by machines and monitored by computers. Up until the final branding by laser for specific customers, everything is being performed with almost surgical precision.
And indeed: One of the peculiarities that make these barrels so successful can be found here: The toasting („Chauffe“), the thermic preparation for certain flavor profiles, is one of the keys to the sophistication of Tremeaux barrels. Controlled heating and limiting temperature peaks seam to do the magic.
By the way, for explanation: The Tonnellerie Tremeaux started off as a one-man-business. Ludovic took on established competitors that have been providing barrels for great vineyard names like Pommard, Corton, Meursault or Montrachet. Not just to persist, but to be a real success, facing competitors that have dominated the market for many years (and of course will still be successful in the future) appears to be quite remarkable.
Visit Domaine Y. Clerget
To give us the opportunity for a direct comparison of vintages, coopers and toastings on location, Ludovic arranged a visit at the Domaine Y. Clerget in Volnay. There is a lot one could say about this château; for the time being just this: Thibaud Clerget is the 28th generation of estate owner in an uninterrupted family succession ever since 1268 (!), responsible for the vines.
Even though the vendage (which, round here, is strictly limited to two weeks) is well under way, with perfect hospitality he opens his wine cellar and gives us permission to sample some of the barrels of our choice. In the meantime, the mostly young harvest hands are busy as bees to process the harvest.
Tasting the samples we can realize that every barrel has a tremendous and distinguished impact on the maturation of the wines: The Tremeaux-barrels show their finesse and elegance, or, as Ludovic puts it, the „soft wood“.
Visit Domaine Henri Boillot
Yet another vineyard estate is on our visiting program, the Domaine Henri Boillot. This estate as well cultivates a very own signature, and the occasion for our visit is a special one: A large part of their wine is fermented and matured in certain Tremeaux barrels called „L´Ouvrée®“, with a capacity of 500 Liters
Much to our grievance (in more than one sense) the barrels themselves are on display in the elegant and well-arranged wine cellar, along with lots of other well-tended barrels; but unlike these, they are void. Due to the quite poor quantities of this year´s harvest, these special barrels are and remain empty. Dozens of „L´Ouvrée®“, vacant and idle. Especially son Guillaume´s heart, in charge of the red wines, is bleeding. And so are ours.
Montrachet Vineyards
The vineyards
Nevertheless, later on, our gaze upon the world-famous appellations is uplifting. And we perceive, as we are from palatinate, a certain familiarness in this view. This, of course, may be caused in these vines being arranged in precise lines like ours at home and in their sheer vastness, resembling to our local „sea of vines“.
However, the differences are charming: The gates to the vineyards often display true portals of stone, interrupting the stockades.
The height of the vines is 1 meter or little more (half of what it would be in Palatinate). The tractors used to drive over vine lines (not in between) appear to be tiny, compared to the almost house-sized ones common in our region.
The parcels of vines, called „climats“, are sometimes tiny (here a digression to the ancient French inheritance laws and their effects on the wine trade might be of interest, maybe more on that at another occasion).
This machine passes over the rows of vines!
Later on, we converge to the spirit of the Tremeaux barrels in a conversation: Ludovic explicates that to him, the provenance of the trees used to cut the staves is not that determining for the quality of his barrels. Not only the previously mentioned toasting, but another, earlier step in the process, the drying („maturation“) of the staves, is more important: All the staves should be exposed to climatic influences in the same degree. So they are stacked in quite common „chimneys“, but, so that all staves get the same sun exposure, only to a height of roughly 1 m.
And so, we don´t find the final answers, but nevertheless can look forward to our future cooperation with a wonderful gain of knowledge.
Summary
We are glad to have become acquainted with Ludovic and to have learned more about his Tonnellerie. Being able to offer his barrels to our customers is quite enjoyable.
Beaune itself and the entire region are by all means worth travelling to. We had the opportunity to witness French „joy of living“ (at and after dinner), ties to the region and a professionalism, deeply embedded in traditions and history. It may have been a business trip to us, but even those can be jouissance.
See you next time!
