What is a cooperage? Wine Barrels Explained
Visiting a Cooperate in Champagne. Wine Recommendations per Barrel Source Country.
This past July 2023 we visited a cooperage in the Champagne region of France, Tonnellerie de Champagne, who manufactures 1500 barrels per year for the use in the production and aging of Champagne in the Champagne region. They also ship barrels to Oregon, South Africa, UK, Australia, Belgium, Luxemburg, and Switzerland. It was a privilege to be hosted by Jérôme Viard, artisan-cooper/owner, and Stephance Schiltz, hospitality. We walked through the entire facility and its surrounding viewing the oak aging/drying and the barrel-making process. Barrels are made to specifications of size: a Burgundy barrel is 225 liters, a Bordeaux-size barrel is 228 liters, a Cognac barrel is 300 liters, and larger barrels include the Foudre which can be 20-120 hectoliters (hectoliter= 100 liters). Note: Tonnellerie de Champagne also produces tailor-made creations of wooden boxes, chairs, and decorative objects. If you’d like to visit and become a “Cooper for a Day,” see their Visits and Activities page.
In 2016 I visited Château Haut Brion, the First Growth Bordeaux winery that has its own cooperage. I was curious after that time to visit cooperage/manufacturer.
What is a Cooper? Where are They Found?
Craftsmen who make wooden barrels are called coopers. The word is most likely derived from the Latin word for vat, “cupa.” The ancient Greeks and Romans are credited with being the first to employ barrels for storing wine. Oak, chestnut, and ash were among the earliest to be used. An oak tree may need up to 120 years to grow before being used for barrel making. The French, American, and Hungarian oak barrels produced serve wineries around the globe including those in Italy, Spain, Australia, South Africa, Chile, Argentina, and New Zealand.
The world’s largest barrel manufacturer is located in Lebanon, Missouri. The top three countries that make barrels used for aging wine come from the United States, France, and Hungary.
The process to age and dry the wood, cut it, fit it with iron hoops, and then toast it to winemakers’ specifications is specific and arduous. Let’s look at some facts about the cooperage process and (below) I make recommendations for wines which use various oak species/country-source for aging.
What is the Cooperage Process?
The process of making barrels involves the following steps:
*Source the oak from appropriate forests- normally hand-selected. The wood is cut and de-barked.
*Age and dry out the logs
*Cut the wood into strips, or staves, stacked and dried again for up to several years.
*Shape the staves so that each is wider in the middle and slightly tapered at the ends.
*The cooper hand-selects the staves to ensure the tightest fit.
*Assemble the staves inside a metal hoop.
*Condition the assembled staves so they are subjected to both heat and humidity to make the wood flexible.
*Toast the barrel. The barrel sits over a flame to be toasted. The level of toasting is determined by the winemaker/customer. The heat caramelizes the sugars in the wood, giving rise to new compounds that add complexity.
*Trim the barrel. A precise machine is necessary to trim the ends of the staves and to cut the “croze,” the groove that receive the barrel heads.
*Produce the barrel heads. The barrel heads are produced with more wood held together with wooden dowels.
*Test the barrel. The barrel is set upright and tested to make certain it is water-tight.
*Sand and plane the barrel.
*The cooper signs and/or stamps the barrel head. It’s complete.
What Types of Wood are Used for Wine Barrels?
Frequently when interviewing winemakers, they say, “We only use French oak barrels.” However, it can be said the type of wood used and the toasting of the wood used in making barrels can be equated to your choosing the right spice from your spice rack. There are preferences in each wine region and for each wine varietal.
What Type of Oak is Best?
Each wood type offers different nuances both in flavor and production needs. Some wood is chosen for its permeability to oxygen for micro-oxygenation of the wine in aging. For example, American oak contains more lactones than French oak, while French oak has more tannins than American oak. The former tends to have a sweeter character while the latter tends to be spicier and more delicate.
France is famed for its high-quality oak barrels and has been creating wine barrels for generations. Winemakers place a premium on French oak due to the wood's ability to transfer complex characteristics like spice and vanilla to the wine. Oak trees from the woods of Allier, Tronçais, Limousin, Vosges, and Nevers forests are used to make the vast majority of French wine barrels. The species of oak used in Europe are Quercus Robur and Quercus Petraea.
The United States famed American oak makes it a major wine barrel producing country as well. Winemakers seek out American oak as it imparts flavors of caramel, coconut, and dill, along with a significant tannin presence. It is usually considered more assertively flavored. Missouri is noted for its high-quality wood and is the leading producer of American oak wine barrels, but they are also made in Minnesota, Oregon, and Wisconsin. The species of oak used in America is Quercus Alba.
Hungarian oak barrels have the ability to impart an oak flavor which can be described as leather, vanilla, clove, spice, toast, and licorice. In Hungary, the Zemplén forest usually gives the best oak for barrel making. The species of oak used in Europe are Quercus Robur (mostly used for aging spirits like Cognac) and Quercus Petraea (for winemaking).
Why Do You Toast the Oak?
“The inside of oak barrels for winemaking are typically toasted. Toasting both transforms the flavors of the barrel from raw wood to spice and vanilla notes (toasting actually helps release vanillin from the cellulose in the wood) and mellows the tannins. It also makes the wood more pliable so that it can be bent into shape.” – Wine Spectator, September 2020
Recommendations for Wines and Spirits with Various Oak Aging
2019 Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma, $100
Decanter Magazine, 95 Points
Aged in 50% new and 50% second-use American Oak from the Duncan family’s The Oak cooperage, Higbee, Missouri.
2020 Villa Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva, Chianti, Tuscany, Italy, $36
Wine Spectator, 93 Points
Aged in a combination of French and Hungarian oak barriques for one year.
2019 Rombauer Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, $75
Wine Enthusiast, 93 Points
Aged 17 months in French Oak (65% new)
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Thomas, Precisely! Thank you for the 3 T's. Tricia
Last year I attended an event by Naked Wines. As we were tasting Sam Plunkett’s Single Vineyard Series Forest Hut Shiraz, we chatted about the use of barrels. First choose your type, basically French or American oak. There is a bit more to it because you might change the width of the standard staves and even use acacia. Now you specify the level of toast, which subjects the insides of the oak barrels to low temperatures for a long period. Once the wine is in the barrel you get to decide how long it should stay there. There, you have a mnemonic, the three Ts: type, toast and time.