Wine Barrels - Drums - Equipment - Supplies
Manufacturing, Wholesale, New and Used
Napa Valley, San Francisco North Bay, Ca. USA

Wine barrels, especially those made of oak, have long been used as containers in which wine is typically aged. Aging in oak typically imparts desirable vanilla, butter and spice flavors to wine. The barrels that are used for storing wine can vary in size, but the most common are barriques.

French Oak was for many years considered especially desirable for use in constructing wine barrels. In France, Oak typically comes from one or more primary forests: Allier, Limousin, Nevers, Troncais and Vosges. The wood from each of these forests has slightly different characteristics. For example, tightly grained wood tends to impart its flavors more slowly than does that which is loosely grained. Winemakers can select wood from different forests to influence how their wine ages.

Early experiments using American Oak as well as oak from many other countries, were disappointing because the oak imparted too much flavor to the wine. It was assumed at first that the difficulty lie with the oak. However, experimentation revealed that the problem was in the preparation of the wood and the way the barrels were constructed.


While oak barrels are generally used for aging wine, they can also be used for fermentingOne major difference in preparing the oak was that French coopers aged the wood for at least two years whereas American coopers used a kiln-dry method to season the wood. A second major difference was that French coopers split the wood whereas Americans sawed the staves.

 

Also See:

Wine Index

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