Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/998810
46 WINES&VINES July 2018 BARRELS "I t's hard to say how the wine barrel market is tracking because this year there's a lot of wineries with leftover barrels from last year," said Chris Han- sen, sales manager for Seguin Moreau Napa Cooperage. According to his clients, due to the low yields harvested in 2016, some larger wineries have as many as a hundred unused barrels.This was a common comment from coopers during interviews. Yet, data still suggests that the U.S. remains the largest purchaser of wine barrels overall. "Larger than France but a little less than Eu- rope as a single market," said Elizabeth Van Emst, general manager of Cooperages 1912 Napa. "Why? California wineries dominate the super-premium and up categories in the U.S., and much of this is barrel-aged." French oak prices continue to rise French oak continues to be in the highest de- mand among premium wine producers. And as that demand continues to increase, so do the barrel prices. According to Van Emst, whose company sources from various French forest regions, the French National Forest Of- fice (NFO) owns about 85% of the French oak supply. Because of the controlled supply, many French coopers have increased prices an aver- age of 2% to 3% annually over the past four years. This, in conjunction with the rising de- mand for French oak, means higher prices for barrels. When talking about the French oak market, one also has to take into consideration the fluctuation of the euro exchange rate — $1.23 as of Van Emst's interview with Wines & Vines versus $1.07 a year ago. "That 15% swing af- fects not only the cost of importing barrels, but also the cost of French oak staves for the do- mestic producers making French oak barrels domestically," Van Emst said. Josh Trowbridge, vice president and gen- eral manager of Tonnellerie Ô and Creative Oak in Benicia, Calif., reported that one of his French millers estimates that because of this Budgeting for Barrels Due to demand and limited supply, new French oak barrels might double in price in five years, French miller says By Stacy Briscoe