Bouchons Trescases

What Bouchons Trescases does

Bouchons Trescases is a French family-owned manufacturer of premium cork stoppers for still wines, founded in 1876 by Joseph Trescases in Céret, Pyrénées-Orientales, and currently headquartered in Le Boulou, France. The company produces a complete range of cork closures — natural cork stoppers, micro-aglomerated cork stoppers, natural colmated cork stoppers, and 1+1 technical corks — serving prestigious wineries and châteaux across 20 countries. Annual production capacity stands at 140-150 million corks, equating to roughly one Trescases cork uncorked somewhere in the world every five seconds. Its primary customer segment is high-end wineries producing still wines that require long aging and aromatic preservation, with named exclusive-supply clients including Clos des Papes (since 1924) and Drouhin (since 1960).

The company operates a tri-country production footprint spanning Le Boulou (France), Sardinia (Italy), and Portugal — the world's leading source of cork — and processes raw cork through a 12-step manufacturing workflow including debarking, boiling, tubing, optical and manual sorting, surface treatment, and packaging. Quality differentiation rests on proprietary anti-TCA technologies: VSR (thermal desorption decontamination, eliminating 150 volatile compounds without altering cork's physical-mechanical properties) and NDTech (individual gas chromatographic TCA analysis of each cork at 0.5 ng/L precision, licensed from Amorim Cork). Sorting combines three-camera optical selection with manual sorting operators for top-of-range products, and a 2024 gravity-based packaging line plus UV-cure ink marking machinery round out the technical stack. The company holds an unusually dense certification stack: EPV (Living Heritage Company, 2015, sole cork recipient), FSC (since 2009), SYSTECODE PREMIUM (since 2012) and EXCELLENCE (2016), and HACCP/CE-Liège compliance.

Revenue is generated through direct B2B sales to wineries on a consultative basis, with shipments palletized at 20,000-40,000 corks per order. The company cites 90% client loyalty, indicating strong repeat-business economics, but does not publicly disclose pricing. Ownership has remained within the Trescases family for six generations; the company is a privately held corporation (Société nouvelle des Bouchons Trescases S.A., created in 1983 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of S.A. Bouchons Trescases), with Michel Trescases as Chairman and CEO since 1985 and Eric Trescases (his son) in the Direction since 1997. Distribution is entirely direct with no intermediaries, and the go-to-market emphasizes bespoke, tailor-made cork solutions for prestigious estates rather than standardized volume supply.

Name

Bouchons Trescases

Legal name

Société nouvelle des Bouchons Trescases S.A.

Website

https://bouchons-trescases.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

1876

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Bouchons Trescases is a French family-owned manufacturer, founded in 1876, that produces tailor-made premium cork stoppers for still wines, serving prestigious wineries and châteaux across 20 countries with production facilities in France, Sardinia, and Portugal.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cork Stopper Manufacturing

akta.pro primary industry

Cork & Synthetic Stoppers (IMALALAK)

Keywords

• Cork stopper manufacturing
• Wine cork closures
• Natural cork production
• Anti-TCA cork treatment
• Custom wine closures

Headquarters

HQ city

Le Boulou

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Cork stopper manufacturing and sales: Bouchons Trescases generates revenue through the manufacture and direct sale of cork stoppers to wineries and wine producers. The company produces between 140 and 150 million corks per year, serving prestigious châteaux and wine producers across 20 countries. Revenue is derived from the sale of various cork stopper types including natural corks, micro-agglomerated corks, and technical corks.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Bouchons Trescases manufactures and sells custom cork stoppers for still wines, offering a full range of Natural Cork Stoppers, Micro-Agglomerated Cork Stoppers, Natural Colmated Cork Stoppers, and 1+1 Technical Corks, each tailor-made in dimensions and marking for individual wineries and châteaux. Production is supported by patented/licensed anti-TCA technologies (NDTech individual gas chromatographic testing at 0.5 ng/L, VSR thermal desorption) and quality certifications including EPV, SYSTECODE PREMIUM/EXCELLENCE, FSC, and HACCP. The company produces 140–150 million corks annually and serves clients in approximately 20 countries from facilities in Le Boulou (France), Sardinia, and Portugal.

Product overview

Bouchons Trescases is a family-owned manufacturer of premium cork stoppers for still wines, established in 1876. The company offers a complete range of cork products including Natural Cork Stoppers (from finest origins for premium aging wines), Micro-Agglomerated Cork Stoppers (technical closures for faster-moving wines), Natural Colmated Cork Stoppers, and 1+1 Technical Corks. Quality is ensured through advanced treatments including VSR (thermal desorption decontamination) and NDTech (individual TCA testing per cork). Production facilities are located in Le Boulou (France), Sardinia, and Portugal.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Natural Cork Stoppers

Quantifiable outcome

• TCA contamination detection precision of 0.5 nanograms per liter via individual NDtech testing of each cork
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CE Liège (Confédération Européenne du Liège)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1987Co-founded by Georges Trescases in 1987, CE Liège represents all players in the European cork industry, bringing together producers, manufacturers and distributors from 6 countries (France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain and Portugal). The confederation promotes the cork industry, encourages use of cork with exceptional properties, and runs research programs in collaboration with wine-making bodies and organizations.
• Amorim Cork (NDTech)coreTechnology or IntegrationNDTech is a technology developed and patented by Amorim Cork that provides individual gas chromatographic analysis of each cork to detect TCA contamination at a precision of 0.5 nanograms per liter. Bouchons Trescases licenses and uses this technology to produce natural corks without detectable TCA traces, with each cork individually tested and any cork exceeding the threshold automatically removed from the supply chain.
• Bureau VeritasminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerBureau Veritas conducts SYSTECODE certification audits for Bouchons Trescases, verifying compliance with the international code of cork practices, ISO standards for traceability, and sanitary safety requirements.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Lafitte Cork: Family-owned Portuguese/French cork producer manufacturing natural, agglomerated and technical cork stoppers for premium wine producers. Highly comparable to Bouchons Trescases in heritage, family ownership structure, premium segment focus, and European production base.
• Piedade Corks: Portuguese cork stopper manufacturer with broad portfolio of natural, colmated, technical and champagne corks. Direct competitor serving overlapping premium wine producer customers across Europe and global markets.
• DIAM Bouchage: French-origin producer of DIAM technical cork closures using supercritical CO2 processing to eliminate TCA. Directly competes with Bouchons Trescases' micro-agglomerated and technical cork lines by offering a differentiated 'guaranteed TCA-free' technical closure for the same premium wine customer base.
• M.A. Silva Corks: Portuguese family-owned cork stopper manufacturer producing natural, technical, and colmated corks for premium wine producers worldwide. Comparable to Bouchons Trescases in target customers (premium wineries), product range, and heritage-driven positioning, though with a broader geographic footprint including US operations.
• Cork Supply Group: US-headquartered cork manufacturer with operations in Portugal, serving premium wineries globally with natural and technical corks. Comparable to Bouchons Trescases in product range, premium customer focus, and use of advanced TCA screening technologies (including DS100 and other screening methods).
• Portocork America: US-based subsidiary of Portuguese cork producer producing natural and technical cork stoppers for premium wineries in North America. Comparable product offering and premium customer focus, though with stronger North American distribution.

Regional players

• Sughero Sardinia / Sugalen: Sardinian/Italian cork stopper manufacturers with regional focus on Mediterranean wine producers. Comparably positioned to Bouchons Trescases' Sardinia facility operations and share overlap with the company's Italian customer base.

Emerging players

• Nomacorc (Vinventions): Leading producer of synthetic wine closures (Nomacorc brand) under Vinventions. Relevant as the primary synthetic-closure competitor to natural cork, competing for the same wine producer customers though with a different material proposition — represents the secular alternative-closure threat to cork producers.

Broad incumbents

• Amorim Cork: World's largest cork stopper manufacturer and Portugal-based industry leader. Directly comparable because Amorim produces the full range of natural, technical, and champagne cork stoppers for still and sparkling wines, and also licenses NDtech to Bouchons Trescases — making them both technology licensor and direct competitor.

Others

• Bericap: Global manufacturer of plastic closures and caps for beverages and food. Relevant as a broader closures-industry incumbent whose scale and material science capabilities could be redirected toward wine closures if the synthetic-closure trend accelerates, posing an indirect competitive threat to all cork producers.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

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Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Bouchons Trescases