The Charlois Group
The Charlois Group, the leading stave mill in France, and the Saury Group, one of the all-time leaders in the cooperage industry, are merging to form the very first upmarket cooperage group to integrate and control the entire supply and production chain, upstream and downstream.
An alliance that seals the complementary strategies of the two companies both dedicated to the highest quality. This alliance is not an accident but stems from the desire of two professionals to understand each other’s craft...
For six generations, the Charlois Group has been a recognized expert in selecting oak trees, splitting timber, and air-drying stave wood (the most valuable part of the oak tree). Based in the centre of France, in the middle of the Nièvre forests, the largest oak forests in France, the Group stave lot extends over 10 ha. “This forest is an inestimable asset where oaks reign supreme, a capital we strive to protect in order to secure the present and future quality of our stave wood” points out Sylvain Charlois, Chairman of the group. Aware that he controlled a source of exceptional quality oak and needing outlets for his stave wood, he bought the Berthomieu cooperage and its subsidiary, Ermitage, in 2006. The group was crafting 25,000 top quality barrels under these two brands, but was still unable to absorb the 6,700 cubic metres of stave wood produced every year, sourced exclusively from French oak forests.
Based in the Corrèze, the Saury Cooperage was also a family-run business founded in 1873. The world’s number five cooperage at the time, it extended its reach in 2006 with the successive acquisition of two Cognac cooperages: Martell & Co – now Leroi- dedicated to brandies and spirits, and then Erable, a wooden vat manufacturer. With the purchase, in 2008, of a stave mill, Normandie Merrains, the Saury Group was able to self-supply 1,100 cubic metres of stave wood, enough to make 10,000 of the 50,000 barrels they produced every year.
The complementary needs and aspirations of the two entities made them natural partners.
This new Group chaired by Sylvain Charlois, who is also the main shareholder, produces 75,000 premium quality barrels from its own supply of 7,800 cubic metres of stave-grade wood. To round out the system, the group can depend on Malviche, a large saw mill manufacturing pallets and railway sleepers, to process any wood unfit for stave making.
From a commercial standpoint, each cooperage (Ermitage, Berthomieu, Saury, and Leroi) will remain independent in terms of identity, production process and also sales.
The strength of this new group is based on two core factors: full control of supplies and cross-functionality. Quality is the spearhead of all players in this industry: the necessary alchemy between a good wine and an oak barrel that creates a Grand Cru. The stave producer and the cooper alike must offer wine-growers premium quality and faultless, microbiologically-safe oak. The Saury and Charlois Groups are perfectly aware of this. Each entity has made quality its main concern and have invested accordingly to develop a rigorous quality control policy.The new Group now has the benefit of transverse certification.
Since 2004, all the Charlois Group’s operations have been certified PEFC*, guaranteeing Charlois’ commitment to the quality and traceability of all the oak they use. The Group has just obtained HACCP* certification from Veritas. With this international accreditation, Charlois demonstrates its capacity to identify, evaluate and also control any significant food-safety related risks: biological, chemical and physical hazards. Finally ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certifications are underway. These two standards define the requirements for quality and environmental management systems and guarantee that the entity concerned is able to implement them.
Groupe Charlois
Fax : +33 3 86 38 11 46
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