Roll out the barrel...in the US
plans to enter the US market.
Facing increasingly tough trading conditions in the European market, Tonnellerie Bordelaise, a France-based producer of high quality oak barrels, has announced plans to enter the US market with the formation of a US sales team.
After selling directly to selected California wineries in 2002, company president Patrick Delord has announced the appointment of Oliver Wood as sole agent for the US market.
"In order to grow our US business to its full potential and to maximise our customer service, we are appointing a full-time representative," explained Delord. The company will be exhibiting its barrel products at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento, California, on 29-30 January at booth 2613.
In the currently highly competitive barrel making sector, Tonnellerie Bordelaise claims to be a unique company. Formed as a partnership between wood sourcing and milling specialist Scierie Delord and Master Cooper Didier Fesil, Tonnellerie Bordelaise says it is able trace every piece of wood from the specific forest source to the finished barrel.
The move to expand the company's presence in the US market is widely seen as an effort to broaden the company's markets outside of the currently depressed European wine market. There, poor weather conditions and floods of cheaper synthetic alternatives have caused both the wine barrel and corking industries to suffer.
In Europe, Tonnellerie Bordelaise's current client list includes wineries such as Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte, Chateau Latour Martillac and Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere in France, and Vega Sicilia in Spain. The company said that its goal in entering the US market "is to provide quality-oriented winemakers with barrels custom-made to their specifications which will enhance their wine's flavours, aromas, and complexity during the wine aging process".
