Marc Grenier Cooperage (Burgundy)(1)
By Bertrand Celce 2009-3-4 15:11:48
Marc Grenier showing a few models of his wooden containersCorberon, Burgundy
Marc Grenier's open wooden vats, tronconic vats and foudres can be found in many vat rooms today. While the early- and mid-20th century has seen 
many wineries in France replace their wooden fermentation vats with large, cheap and easy-to-maintain cement vats, the last quarter of the century saw a revival in the manufacturing and use of these wooden containers. The cement vats had been introduced in the wineries as early as in the early 20th century, says Marc Grenier. This had rapidly led to the fall into oblivion of the traditional wooden vat because of price and convenience. Marc Grenier certainly bears a large responsibility for the massive come-back of large-size tronconic wooden vats for the vinification and elevage of the wines. After beginning with reparing old wooden vats for Burgundy wineries, he went into making new ones, and brought many modern innovations to these ancient containers by adding large stainless-steel doors and lids that allowed these tronconic vats to be used not only for the fermentation but also for the elevage. Many of these innovations were later copied by other cooperages.
He rarely falls into a routine when manufacturing his large wooden vats, as each of his clients is asking for custom sizes and precise specifications depending of their vat room size and height, or of their vinification style. Compared to the smaller casks, these wooden containers are like big vessels that demand skilled expertise close I would say to those of a naval architect. Lesser known than many big cooperages, this cooperage has retained an artisanal size, in spite of having contributed to about 1900 wooden vats and foudres since the start of the company in 1982. Marc Grenier employs between 4 and 6 workers depending of the work load. I had noticed along my visits in the wineries that many demanding artisan-vintners used Grenier wooden vats, and when I visited Hervé Villemade, he encouraged me to visit his cooperage in Burgundy.
Atop a 9000-liter tronconic vat
From wineterroirs.com
