Seguin Moreau.

This morning some of my TWWIAGE coworkers and I took a quick field trip to Seguin Moreau Napa Cooperage (SMNC).  I can't believe that I haven't visited a cooperage before today (Vinomaker has visited both SMNC and Demptos).  SMNC don't normally host tours at their Napa facility, however TWWIAGE purchase quite a few barrels from this particular cooperage, so special dispensation was granted.
Visiting SMNC was absolutely fascinating.  I have read plenty about the forests where the oak is grown and harvested; how the timber is aged, exposed to the elements for at least 2 years; the stages of wine-barrel construction and the whole toasting process.  But all that reading did not prepare me for just how interesting it was to witness the entire smoky, aromatic operation in person.
SMNC can produce about 100 barrels a day.  If the process is done entirely by hand SMNC can only make 30 barrels a day: it takes 7 years of making barrels by hand before one can be considered a master cooper.  Brilliant.

Bucket of bungs.

New French oak barrels come with rough hewn oak bungs, held securely in the bung hole with a disc of cotton or hessian, which are generally discarded (in favour of silicone bungs for barrel aging).  I salvaged a bucketful of these bungs that were being thrown away at TWWIAGE.  Why, you might ask?  Because they make great kindling, that's why.  There is no better wood to start a fire with, on a cold winter's night, than wood from 200 - 300 year old trees that has been air-dried for up to 48 months.  It's my own version of toasting oak.
Most of the trees that are felled for the production of French oak barrels (predominantly Quercus sessiliflora and Quercus petraea) come from a handful of forests (e.g., Allier, Limousin and Tronçais) that were planted during Napoleonic times for shipbuilding.  Call me old fashioned, but I always feel warm and toasty when I think that some of the wood intended for the French navy meets its Waterloo in my hearth.  Ouch!
And happy St. Trifon's Day everyone!

Still shaking!

With new barrels arriving at TWWIAGE, in anticipation of the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon harvest, wine-life goes on after a rather major earthquake.  Watching news coverage of the damage at certain wineries, (notably two crumpled-like-a-soda-can, 10,000 gallon, stainless steel tanks at the Hess Collection), I realise that TWWIAGE got off very lightly.  My employers only suffered the loss of a few cases of personal wine that were still stacked in cases, not unpacked and placed in the diamond shaped wine bins.  And Napa is still shaking.  Thud and his family got little sleep on Sunday night due to all the aftershocks.  I myself was awakened at 5.32 a.m. this morning by a small temblor, followed by another at 6.44 a.m.  California, man!

Pick a barrel.

Now is the time of year when producers, throughout wine country, are fervently preparing for harvest, although there has been a little bit of breathing room this vintage.

The purchasing of new barrels is a major concern for winemakers, and each winery will have a very individualistic barrel protocol. The winery at which I am gainfully employed purchases a butt-load, (that is a technical term), of new French oak barrels, for Chardonnay and Cabernet sauvignon production, from perhaps as many as a dozen different cooperages. Consequently, quite a large number of barrels have been arriving at the winery for the past few weeks; preceded by a passel of barrel salesmen, eager to secure large contracts, bringing with them promotional materials they each hope will curry favour with the winemaker. These promotional materials often include t-shirts, coffee mugs, wine thieves and...toothpicks, French oak toothpicks no less. It could be worse, The Boswell Company could have offered the winemaker a peg leg, or George Washington's false teeth, as a conciliatory gift.

Tonnellerie greetings.

What do you get when you buy several barrels from a local cooperage at $900 plus each? A complimentary Christmas card.
Merry Christmas right back at 'ya Demptos!

Barrel Aging.

Fermentation is at an end here in Vinoland, at the winery where I work and, I daresay, most every other winery in the Napa Valley. Now, the arduous cellar operation of barrelling down every last drop of adolescent wine is the job at hand.
Aging wine in an oak barrel serves two main purposes. Firstly, there is the slow oxidation of the wine through the porous grain of the barrel, which aids in the enhancement of the bouquet of the aging wine. Secondly, there is the addition of oak phenolics from the inner surface of the barrel, which when combined with the aroma component of a young wine can also enhance the wine's bouquet.
It is said that every cloud has a silver lining...or in this case every barrel has a M+ toasted interior. There is a definite bright side to one particular European country having been hit hard by the global economic crisis. French oak barrels are a real bargain this year at only about $900 each, down on average about 10 % from the past 2 - 3 years.
I wonder if the Greeks have ever considered going into the barrel business?