Fédération des Tonneliers de France

The house

French coopers organized in guilds in the Middle Ages, and in 1268 they submitted their statutes for approval. Charles VII, Louis XIII and Louis XIV confirmed and widened them. The modern trade turned in the early 1970s, when winemakers began to want new barrels to age their wine, and a new era opened for the coopers’ national federation.

Its 67 member companies are grouped in 3 regional associations, for Burgundy, the Charentes and the Southwest. Magdeleine Allaume, of Tonnellerie Seguin Moreau in Cognac, was elected its president unanimously on June 12, 2024, at a general assembly at the Cité du Vin in Bordeaux, after 15 years under Jean-Luc Sylvain. Eudes Baufreton is director general; the vice-presidents are François Witasse of Demptos, who chairs the association of the Southwest, and Nicolas Tiquet-Lavandier of Taransaud, who chairs the association of the Charentes.

Each July the federation publishes the figures of the trade. In 2014 its 51 member cooperages made 524,500 barrels, for sales of 342 million euros. The Gironde alone, in the count of July 2022, had 20 cooperages and 400 jobs, and made 170,000 to 210,000 barrels a year of the 658,000 made in France. From April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026 the members’ revenue was 471 million euros. It also looks after the next generation, with schools for coopers in Beaune, Cognac and Bordeaux-Blanquefort; in July 2026, 1 cooperage in 3 was looking for an apprentice for September.

At a glance

Kind

Institution

Based in

Paris

Direction

Magdeleine Allaume, president since June 2024; Eudes Baufreton, director general