Vicard | The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails

, or Groupe Vicard, is a third-generation, family-owned French cooperage company based in Cognac that specializes in barrel production as well as barrel stave aging. Their barrels are used in the production of both wine and spirits, including many notable cognac brands. The Vicard workshop was founded by Paul Vicard in 1925, when it produced less than a dozen barrels daily. Vicard currently produces almost ten times that—some forty thousand barrels a year, of which 70 percent are exported. Their largest markets are in Italy, Spain, the United States, and South American countries.

Vicard uses various sources of oak, predominately French (as well as from bordering countries), but also American and eastern European. The bulk of their wood is harvested from forests in central and northeastern France. They also own a stave yard outside of Cognac in Merrains du Périgord that produces 4,000 cubic meters per year (approximately 141,243 cubic feet).