Two Brother Burgundy Coopers: Tonnellerie Billon & Tonnellerie
With grapes for sparkling and some whites soon on their way, please see a special focus on the two brothers' Burgundy coopers: TONNELLERIE BILLON SA from Beaune managed by Vincent DAMY, and Tonnellerie Damy from Meursault managed by Jérôme DAMY.
When it comes to specific barrels for white wines, the BILLON Select and DAMY Exclusive represent an extremely tight grain selection of Allier and Vosges staves with proprietary toast levels ranging between Light Long, and Medium. Because of the extremely tight grain selection, these barrels work best for longer aging and powerful white wines.
When it comes to forest-origin barrels, Allier, Vosges, Jura, and Acacia perform extremely well.
Allier is structural-driven and provides grilled bread, brioche, spiciness, and popery aromas.
Vosges is more mineral and tension driven and provides floral, chamomile, and honey aromas.
Jura is texturally driven and provides fresh alpine aromas.
Acacia (not oak) does not have tannin therefore it does not impact the palette but instead provides tropical and stone-fruit aromas and performs best on aromatic whites.
For restraint, precision, and focus, the LL and LL++ toasts work great. Instead for more impact, generosity, and opulence, the M, ML, and M+ toasts are recommended.
