My Story
Frédéric GILLET a passion named barrel
Coming from a family of coopers, Frédéric GILLET decided in 2011 to leave the family business in Saint-Romain to create the company Art du Tonneau and thus be able to offer discovery animations of the cooperage, accessible to any public.
For more than 20 years, we have been offering fun, friendly and participative workshops throughout France.
Since 2015, we offer the discovery of cooperage in fixed workshop. From 2015 to 2022 in the town of Corcelles-les-Arts and today in Vignoles, 5 minutes from Beaune.
1966
Frédéric's parents, Claude and Jacqueline GILLET, created the Tonnellerie Claude Gillet in the town of Saint Romain. Since his birth, Frédéric grew up in the cooperage business, which was in full development in the 1980s.
1986
Frédéric obtained his cooper's certificate at the Lycée Viticole of Beaune and joined the family business. As soon as he arrived, he already had the pleasure to transmit and share his experience.
1990
With the development and modernization of cooperages (which then became real industries), visits to the factories became more and more complicated.
2000
Frédéric is thinking of creating a unique concept in France: cooperage tourism.
2011
Creation of the company "Art du Tonneau" to be able to propose to the public workshops to discover the cooperage.
2014
After having introduced the art of cooperage to Roland Bugada, André Valognes and Gilles Bousquet during a workshop, a friendship was born with the idea of working on a book about cooperage.
2015
Following the success of the workshops and after several years of traveling throughout France, Frédéric set up a fixed workshop in Corcelles-les-Arts, 5 minutes from Meursault, to recreate a real workshop of yesteryear. Art du Tonneau now offers fixed and mobile workshops.
2019
Edition of the book "La Noblesse du Tonneau" by the four friends
2022
Art du Tonneau continues to grow and must move from Corcelles-les-Arts. The fixed workshops are now held in the commune of Vignoles, 5 minutes from Beaune.
The steps to make a barrel
La Noblesse du Tonneau
The 4 authors, Gilles Bousquet, Roland Bugada, Frédéric Gillet and André Valognes, have done a meticulous job of transcribing the history of the barrel as it has really been over the years.
The barrel, traces of which were discovered more than 2,000 years ago, is still used for maturing wines. This is due to its many qualities in terms of handling, storage, aroma, etc.
You will discover the close links between the cooper and the winemaker for the creation of a true partnership that will give the wine the desired typicity.
This book has received numerous awards for its research and writing, including a special mention from the O.I.V. and the Vergnette de Lamotte prize.
André Valognes, Roland Bugada, Frédéric Gillet et Gilles Bousquet
The barrel, whose origins can be traced back to the 3rd millennium B.C., has always been the vessel for liquid or powdered products, including foodstuffs and especially wine. Not only does it remain so today, but it has become the exceptional partner of wine for the acquisition of a label of quality, exception and individuality. The barrel is therefore the result of man's genius. The funds of the departmental archives of several regions, the relations carried out with many coopers and winegrowers offer an unequalled description of the history of this object of art that is the barrel and its evolution through the centuries until the threshold of a technological mutation that accompanies its current development. Throughout the chapters that make up this book, the authors have sought to highlight the close link that unites the two professions of cooper and winemaker in the respect of a sustainable management of raw materials without omitting the evolving trends of consumer tastes. For the four authors, the "Climats de Bourgogne" association has woven a bond of friendship, one of the outcomes of which is the realization of this research and writing work.