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OUR HISTORY AND PEOPLE

At SEGUIN MOREAU, the workshops cooperate with the R&D and Quality departments. This constant collaboration is the cradle in which research results are turned into new products, using processes that are vigilant regarding quality standards monitoring, respect for the environment and food safety.

Research & Development

Andrei PRIDA
Research & Development Manager

Andrei is a native of Moldova who trained as a physical chemist. His career has been closely linked with wood and wine.

After working in an enological chemical analysis laboratory, he continued his studies at the INRA in Montpellier, where he wrote a PhD on 'The Chemical Characterization of Oak Wood and its Role in Ageing Wines and Spirits'. He then taught in universities and worked in the field as a consultant enologist, specializing in wine ageing. Before joining SEGUIN MOREAU in 2006, he did some post-doctoral research on polyphenols at the University of Miami (Oxford, Ohio).

He is the R&D manager at SEGUIN MOREAU, with responsibilities focused around two main areas:
  • Coordinating various fundamental research programs carried out in partnership with:

- The lnstitute of Vine and Wine Sciences (ISVV, Bordeaux),
- The University Institute of Vine and Wine (IUVV, Dijon) and
- The University of Adelaide (Australia)

  • Concrete implementation of results from these research programs.
           

In cooperation with a panel of partner customers spread across the world, Andrei sets up ageing tests and carries out tasting sessions, and then collects and analyzes the results.

SEGUIN MOREAU aims to ensure that theoretical research progress is expressed in tomorrow's world by increasingly reliable and accurate techniques for wine and alcohol ageing, coming closer each day to meeting winemakers' expectations.

Valérie LAVIGNE

Valérie LAVIGNE-CRUEGE
Research Associate on secondment to the Faculty of Enology of Bordeaux

Valerie holds a PhD in enology from the University of Bordeaux II and has been a research associate for Seguin Moreau Cooperage since 1990.

In 1996, she defended her PhD thesis entitled: 'Volatile Sulfur Compounds Formed by Yeast during the Wine-Making Process and Ageing of Dry White Wines'. She won the Amorim* Academy award in 1997. Valérie is on secondment to the Faculty of Enology of Bordeaux and is working on several areas of research at the general enology laboratory run by Professor Denis Dubourdieu:

  • aromas of vine varieties,
  • controlling reduction phenomena during the wine-making process and ageing of white wines,
  • premature ageing of white and red wine aromas.
   

This latter research has led to the chemical characterization of volatile compounds responsible for this type of fault. The ageing conditions in which the appearance of this fault in wines is likely to be avoided or delayed have also been defined.

Valérie regularly publishes in international scientific journals and attends many conferences.

Alexandre PONS
Research Associate on secondment to the Faculty of Enology of Bordeaux

Alexandre is a physicist and enologist who obtained his PhD in enology from the University of Bordeaux II in 2006.

He collaborates with Valérie Lavigne and is currently working on several areas of research:

  • issues connected with understanding the physico-chemical mechanisms linked to premature aromatic changes in wines. This was the subject of his PhD supervised by Valérie Lavigne, which he defended in 2006,
  • the identification of volatile compounds responsible for oak wood quality and faults,
  • the development of new dosage methods for trace volatile compounds in oak wood and wines.
   

Alexandre's research on the premature ageing of white wines received recognition in 2007, when he won the Amorim Academy* award.

Alexandre is currently working on new olfactory markers for oak wood, which are enabling Seguin Moreau to refine its rough stave selection process. The central theme of these various areas of research is the discovery of new odorous molecules for ongoing improvement of the quality of white and red wines aged in barrels.

* This Academy gives awards to young researchers whose work helps improve understanding of wine and wine quality.

Quality & Environment

Marie GOUSSEN
Quality, Safety & Environmental Manager

An Arts & Métiers Engineer, Marie worked in the food-processing industry before joining the world of cooperage and SEGUIN MOREAU in 2014.

Guarantor of the PEFC, ISO 22000 and Bilan Carbone® certifications, Marie ensures good implementation during the manufacturing process on the company’s production sites. She also works towards the permanent improvement of processes and service quality.

As the Quality, Safety and Environment Manager at Seguin Moreau, Marie has 3 main responsibilities:

  • To be ever more attentive to our clients all over the world and to make sure their demands are met
  • To participate in the evolution of our product range
  • To supply winemakers with safe and reliable products, and to offer a consistent quality.

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