The year 2023 marks the 150th anniversary of Saury Cooperage, whose history has been written over the centuries and regions of France since 1873, from Minervois in the Aude to Saint-Pantaléon-de-Larche in Corrèze, via Brive-la-Gaillarde.
The Saury cooperage story is also a family story, that of the Saurys, and that of the Cabriés before them, who have succeeded generation after generation in handing down and perpetuating the exceptional know-how that has shone through since 2009 within the Charlois group.
To celebrate its 150th anniversary, Saury cooperage is putting the little barrels into the big ones, and promises a year rich in events to celebrate an anniversary placed under the sign of tradition and excellence in cooperage skills. Every barrel produced for this 2023 vintage will be stamped “150 years”.
150 years is the average age at which stave oaks are used in cooperage. This means that the oaks currently harvested from the forest began growing when the first family cooperage was founded in Rieux-Minervois. The growth of these oaks has paralleled the growth of Saury cooperage, which for 150 years has continued to magnify this priceless forest resource, the fruit of exceptional know-how. Originally destined to package wines from the Rieux-Minervois region, Saury’s production has diversified over the years, and barrels it produces are now used to age wines and spirits from all countries where vines are grown.
To understand this fascinating family history, which has its roots in the second half of the 19th century, is to embrace a century and a half of perpetuating and passing on the ancestral know-how of French cooperage, combined with an active policy of innovation designed to provide the finest showcases for the wines and spirits of the greatest winegrowing estates.
Follow the story of Tonnellerie Saury on our social networks throughout 2023!
