cazalea[Seiko Moderator]
17294
Do Wineries have us over a (French Oak) Barrel?
Jun 04, 2018,16:25 PM
At least those who like oak in their wine -- Sure, they can add some chips, or play chemistry tricks, but there's no substitute for aging wine in barrels. A few decades ago my wife and I toured France every summer in our Citroen 2CVs, and I have recently uncovered some of our wine explorations. I hope you enjoy this expose on a little-known part of the process of making wine - the barrel.
How to Make a Wine Barrel
1. Go to the south of France, and take a few vineyard and winery tours
2. Take a cheerful and inquisitive woman with you, who asks "How do you make such great wine?"
3. Get invited to a big warehouse on a hot summer day, filled with sweaty men without shirts
4. They saw and plane the oak boards (which keeps the women interested, for some reason)
5. Selecting the slats and fitting them into a metal ring
6. This is harder than it looks - a bit like the game "pick up sticks"
7. Flip over the boards and tap on a couple new rings
8. Keep the women back from the sweaty, muscley men putting a rope around the boards
9. Boring a hole for the bung
10. Giant machine which forces on more of the rings around the wood
11. Quality control and fitting the bottom(s)
12. More trimming, fitting, cleaning and polishing with big machines
Orders from far-off California
On our trips, sometimes we camped...
... while other times we stayed in fancy B & B rooms.
But we always found a good meal. This looks like whitebait or tiny sardines.
Shortly after this meal we went north to Cognac, and saw another barrel-making exhibit - only this time in a museum showing "the old way"
It wasn't that different, with the exception of no big machines.
I hope you have enjoyed the short tour.
It's a Breitling Aerospace, in case you are wondering. And Yes, the Cognac was delicious, thanks!
Cheers,
Cazalea