Doreau Tonneliers

The house

Thierry Doreau started his cooperage near Cognac in 1989. The company was formed at Segonzac in 1993 and moved to Gensac-la-Pallue in 1999. He grew it from the wood up: a stave mill at Genouillac in 2007; Tonnellerie Vernou, which Jean Vernou had founded in 1964, in 2010; and a 2nd stave mill, at Piégut, in 2012. Doreau worked for the cognac houses, at the high end of the market; Vernou made barrels for wine and sold abroad. In 2014 came Tonnellerie des Fins Bois, merged into Doreau in 2016, along with Doreau l’Atelier, set up for repairs and large containers. The house received the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant label, which the French state gives to firms keeping a rare craft alive, in 2019.

On November 30, 2021 the Charlois group, through its subsidiary Oak Nation, bought the Doreau group from the Doreau family, Bpifrance and the regional fund Poitou-Charentes Expansion. Maison Hennessy, of Moët Hennessy, took a minority share. The group then had 120 people on 3 sites, and cognac brought in 70% of the cooperage’s turnover. Doreau now sits in Green Oak, the venture of Charlois and Hennessy, beside the Vernou collection and Doreau l’Atelier. Thierry Doreau, who had started the cooperage 32 years before, took on new duties within Oak Nation.

In November 2023 the new-barrel workshop at Gensac had a team of about 20 and an order book full for the next 12 months, with Hennessy among its main customers. Its production manager, Morgan Audebert, had come in about 20 years before as an apprentice of 15, under Thierry Doreau.

At a glance

Kind

Cooperage

Based in

Gensac-la-Pallue

Founded

1989, by Thierry Doreau

Owner

Charlois group, through Oak Nation, with Maison Hennessy as minority partner, since November 2021

Brands

Doreau Tonneliers, Doreau l’Atelier, Collection Vernou, TMR