Barrels
A traditional tool still relevant
in modern winemaking
In a change that's more incremental than radical,
barrels have remained a critical piece of equip-
ment for making wine despite all the other
changes and innovations in wineries. Ask a wine-
maker what he or she thinks is the most important
quality of a barrel, and the answer is typically
consistency. With each vintage bringing its own
set of ever-changing conditions, minimizing varia-
tion in barrels is a huge help to achieve a certain
winemaking style or profile. After European coo-
pers began investing in the United States, such as
Nadalie USA opening a cooperage in 1980, Amer-
ica's own coopers, which had been wholly focused
on whiskey, saw an opportunity to differentiate
and expand. Cooperages 1912 Napa, which sells
the popular World Cooperage brand of barrels
and the premium line TW Boswell barrels as well
as owning a stave mill and cooperage in France,
has become one of the biggest wine barrel produc-
ers in the world. European cooperages have
sought to build on centuries of tradition with such
innovations as Oakscan by Tonnellerie Radoux
and the ICÔNE oak composition analysis by Se-
guin Moreau, which has led to better-built and
more reliable barrels. American oak wine barrels
have also steadily improved, with European in-
vestment such as Chêne & Cie buying Canton
Cooperage and improving production. A few coo-
pers, such as Tonnellerie O, have begun to offer
American oak from forests in specific states.
SEGUIN
MOREAU
