Tonnellerie Maury's French Gold Olympic Roots

History

Tonnellerie Maury represents a fourth-generation cooperage that was founded in 1893 on the left bank of Bordeaux's Gironde River, along the Quai des Chartrons in the center of town. This unique location kept the Maury family in constant contact with Bordeaux's greatest Chateaux and Negociants, allowing for the Maury family to develop rich personal relationships which today make up the foundation of the cooperage's identity and positioning in Bordeaux's wine industry. 

Serge Maury - French Olympian 

Development of the cooperage was undertaken by the second generation cooper: Serge Maury who expanded the activity of the Maury cooperage and solidified its reputation amongst Bordeaux's most important Châteaux, including left bank icon Léoville Barton who represents to this day, Maury's largest customer. In addition to Serge's passion for the wine and cooperage industry, he loved sailing, and during his free time, Serge would sail in the region's Bassin d'Arcachon and in 1972 would win a Gold Medal for France in the "Finn" sailing discipline at the Munich Summer Olympic Games--after also being the quadruple French Champion, double European champion and double World Champion. 

Today - Mathieu Maury

The third generation of the Maury cooperage now sees Mathieu at its helm, who at a young age joined his father at the cooperage's Quai des Chartrons' location to cooper and repair barrels. Mathieu temporarily left the family to work in computer software development before joining his family again; and he has been managing his family's company ever since, growing its production to between 3,000 to 4,000 barrels annually. 

Mathieu and his team oversee all parts of the business and Mathieu sees it as his responsibility to consistently visit and taste with his customers throughout the year, in order to ensure that he has his finger on the pulse of current vintages and how his barrels and puncheons are complimenting his beloved Bordeaux Châteaux partners. Similar to his father Serge, during his free time Mathieu enjoys being athletic and consistently competes in half and full marathons.

The Cooperage

The cooperage is now located in Saint-Caprais, right outside of Bordeaux, and benefits from Bordeaux's maritime cold, rainy, and humid weather to optimally naturally season 100% Quercus Petraea French Oak staves. For barrels reserved for wine production, a selection of either Center of France Tight Grain or Center of France Extra Tight Grain oak is available. Open-grain Limousin oak can also be requested for spirits production.

Production

Barrels and puncheons are all fire-bent at Tonnellerie Maury, with one long-tenured chief cooper overseeing the toasting of all barrels. Pieces of oak taken from the staves are used for fueling the toasting pots. Maury's reputation has been built on 225L Bordeaux Export and Château barrels; however, the cooperage has significantly expanded its 500L puncheon offerings, mainly for its Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon white wine clientele.  

Range & MC2 Toast

Traditionally speaking, the Maury style has matched its Medium Toast with Bordeaux's warmer and more mature vintages, and its Medium Plus Toast with cooler and fresher vintages. However, with a changing climate, style of wines, and after conversations with producers, Maury created a Medium Long toast (positioned between Medium and Medium Plus) as well as the now-famous "mc2" toast (Maury Chauffe deux fois = double light long toast) that is used on leaner, fruitier and vibrant styles of Cab Franc, Cab Sauvignon, Merlot, as well as Bordeaux white varietals. 

Attestations

All Tonnellerie Maury barrels and puncheons are PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) certified. Regular checks for haloanisoles and halophenols are carried out on the stave yard, processing water, production and storage area environments, and containers. 

Why Tonnellerie Maury? 

The Maury style is notorious in Bordeaux for the quality of its cooperage as much as for the personality of its three family managers over the years, attention to detail, reputation, and attentive contact directly with their customers to ensure they are satisfied.Maury barrels focus on fruit purity, expression, aromatics, and structure. The barrels allow the fruit to remain in focus while providing lift and fullness. They are delicate enough for a lighter vintage but have enough personality and depth to excel in warmer vintages and for richer styles of wines.The Medium, Medium Long, and Medium Plus toasts are suited for more classic and traditional styles of wines. The MC2 Toast is Maury's innovative "energetic" toast designed to adapt to a warmer climate and clients looking for a more fresh and lifted impact of oak on their reds, or as something respectful and complementary on their Sauvignon Blanc and other Bordeaux whites.