🍷 Cooperage

A cooperage is a workshop where barrels are made. Master coopers build a barrel from wooden strips called staves and bind it with metal hoops. Wine barrels are mostly made of oak. The wood is dried in the open air for several years and then split or cut into staves.

The main secret of the cooperage is toasting. The staves are heated over a fire so that they bend, and the inside surface is lightly charred at the same time. The level of toasting affects the taste of the wine: light toasting gives delicate notes, heavy gives toast, smoke and vanilla. The famous Bordeaux barrel, the barrique, holds 225 litres. A barrel needs no nails or glue; it is held by hoops and precise fitting of the wood.

A cooper works at the cooperage. The job takes skill and is a craft handed down through generations. The cooperage is tied to the wine cellar, where the barrels end up. Many wineries buy barrels from large cooperages, and some keep their own craftsman. An oak barrel gives wine flavour and lets it breathe slowly.