Francois Freres Cooperage
To describe Francois Freres is to describe Jean and Noelle Francois. They did not found the cooperage. Jean's grandfather did that. Jean and Noelle took a small regional cooperage and made it a name known all over the world of wine.
For more about Tonnellerie Francois Freres, check out their website.
I met Jean and Noelle in the late 70's. At that time they were already selling barrels to many top domaines in Burgundy, including Rousseau, Chateau de Pommard, Chateau de Meursault, Romanee-Conti, and the Hospices de Beaune. Since then their client list has expanded beyond Burgundy's finest names to an honor roll of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay makers all over the world, many of whom did not exist when they first started to export barrels!
Noelle Francois is perhaps easier for outsiders to understand. She is a woman of class, charm and beauty. She also knows that a way to a winemaker's heart is through his (or her) stomach. How many times have winemakers just back from Burgundy raved about the meal they enjoyed and the fascinating guests they enjoyed the meal with well!! Noelle loves people and it shows. Not only does she take care of visitors but she works at the cooperage every day, where she makes sure everything runs smoothly.
Jean Francois is a man of rare intelligence and skill. He is a natural politician and that means he wants people to like his barrels. He is always striving to make his barrels better. He is so charming and discreet that few realize what a razor sharp mind he has.
He believes that a cooperage must have control over as much of the barrel-making as possible. This is why the company owns three stave mills and make much of their own equipment.
The combination of Jean and Noelle has been hard for people to resist - wonderful people who make great barrels.
In 1989 Francois Freres bought Tonnellerie Demptos of Bordeaux. They yanked their son Jerome out of business school and let him get a practical education. Now he runs the whole company, which includes whole or partial ownership of eight cooperages and three stave mills!
In 1992 Jean and Noelle embarked on a winemaking career, when I stole 5 barrels out of the warehouse and made Oregon Pinot Noir with Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat. In 1997 we expanded our range to include Anderson Valley Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. As each partner gets 20 cases of each wine, we have yet to make any money but we do enjoy drinking the profits with friends.
