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February 2015 Wines&Vines 29 barrels to be a single market, then Europe is slightly larger than the USA." Rough weather during the past two harvests in Burgundy and Bordeaux reduced France's barrel needs, while California posted re- cord wine grape crops in 2012 and 2013. Cooperage sales staff, many of whom spoke to Wines & Vines after attending the recent Vini- tech-Sifel expo in Bordeaux in December, said the focus for French barrel makers has been the United States (and especially Cali- fornia) for a few years. It's a challenge to pin down the total volume of the worldwide barrel market because many of the companies making and selling barrels are privately held firms that seldom release figures about their production volume. Demand strong; prices creeping higher Stout said 2014 barrel sales were up slightly over 2013, which is "incredible considering the har- vest was smaller." He said the quality of the 2014 harvest and t h e s t r e n g t h e n i n g e c o n o m y helped push barrel sales higher. Pricing in 2015, however, will be a challenge. Stout said the cost of American oak logs has grown 25%-30% in the past 12 to 18 months. "Cooperage is a small player in the hardwood industry, and we are doing everything pos- sible to hold down costs and still get enough logs to meet demand." He said Cooperages 1912 has the logs to meet projected demand for 2015-16, but "prices are still high and very volatile." Stout stressed he does not expect to see a short- age of American oak barrels for the U.S. wine industry. French and European oak should only see "modest" price increases. Michael Mercer, who sells French oak for Tonnellerie Leroi and American oak barrels from Charlois Cooperage, said the past year was another great vintage and a strong one for barrel sales. He said a slightly smaller harvest in some parts of California's North Coast was offset by the large har- vest in Washington state and the Long Island region of New York. Mercer said he often makes barrel deliveries himself, and it wasn't uncommon in 2014 for winemakers to request a few more barrels on the crush pad. "Overall it was pretty much a great harvest for barrel sales," he said. He said in 2014 Charlois had to increase its prices 10% because wood prices have shot up at mills as a result of demand from the spirits industry. "It was a huge issue in 2014," he said. "I've never seen anything like it." Now that the Cloverdale, Calif.-based cooperage has estab- lished some relations with mills back east, Mercer said their wood supply would be a little more dependable. That's an advantage for Pre- mier Wine Cask, said president Eric Mercier. The company works with mills in Minnesota and Mis- souri that only produce staves for KEY POINTs Strong demand continues to push barrel sales as the indus- try processes two large har- vests and continues a recovery from the recession. Booming sales for whiskey continue to crimp the supply of domestic oak and drive up the price of American oak barrels. Many winemakers seek a re- strained touch of oak, but some are also combining bar- rels with barrel alternatives. For more information contact your sales representative or email us at info@seguinmoreau.com ICONE RANGE "The USA is definitely the largest wine barrel market in the world, much larger than France." —Jason Stout, Cooperages 1912