Wine Barrels

Wine barrels have been used to store and age wine for centuries. Oak barrels in particular enhance the wine with vanilla and oak notes. The wood also allows a small amount of evaporation during this ‘ageing’ period.

For many years, French Oak was considered the most desirable for the production of wine barrels. The majority of French Oak comes from the ‘Napoleonic’ forests that were planted for shipbuilding. Although no longer required for shipbuilding, the need for the oak is ongoing

There are five primary forests used for wine barrel production. These being Allier, Limousin, Nevers, Trancais and Vosges. Each has distinctive characteristics. Tight grained wood tends to impart the vanilla, spice and butter flavours more slowly than wood with looser grain. By selecting wood from different forests the winemakers can affect the style of the wine.

Initial attempts by other countries to reproduce the effect of French oak were unsuccessful. The wood simply had too great an influence on the taste of the wine. However, it was later discovered that the problem was not the oak itself, but preparation and construction techniques. Dramatic improvements occurred when coopers applied traditional French barrel making techniques to 'foreign' oak.

For instance, the French coopers seasoned the oak by air-drying for at least 24 months and split the wood along the grain to make the staves, whereas American barrel makers (more used to building whiskey barrels) used a kiln-dry method and the staves were sawn rather than split. Splitting rather than sawing produced staves that had a more subtle effect on the wine.

These days it is common to find American oak as well as that of several other countries in the construction of wine barrels. Barrels made from American Oak typically cost less than half the price of French oak barrels and are now capable of achieving similar results

It is common for partially assembled barrels to be placed over a small wood fire. This has the effect of charring or toasting the inside of the barrel. The amount of charring in the barrel has an effect on the wine that is aged in it. Chateaux order their barrels with light, medium or heavy toast. This decision is dictated by the grape variety and the style of wine to be produced.

Barrels are produced in a wide variety of shapes and sizes and regional traditions/variations may apply. The thickness of the staves and method of final construction also varies.

Nowadays, wine is most likely to be fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks before barrel ageing. However, some grape varieties, such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, are both fermented and aged in the barrel. New barrels impart more flavours to the wine than used ones so the percentage of new barrels used by a Chateau may vary each year. Barrels over 5 years old are unlikely to have any influence on the wine.