Question: What is this wood at the end of a barrel?

Many, but not all, of the barrels I saw in Bordeaux last week had strips of wood, with its bark still on, wrapped around the end of the barrel.

barrel.jpg

The guide at the first winery said it added 50 EUR to the cost and gave a reason for it, I later heard two more -- different -- explanations for it, and although the first person said it was chestnut wood, cellar workers at another winery said it wasn't.

I was going to ask the cooper at Ch Smith Haut Lafite but he was unfortunately on holiday.

My gut feeling says it is a tradition and nowadays performs no purpose, but is that so?

Hi Peter,
Traditionally the hoops of the barrel were made from wood.

Salute

Well, Peter, there's your answer.

[Jenise]

Well, Peter, there's your answer.

But it doesn't explain the purpose, which is what I think Peter was really after.

[James Roscoe]

Speaking of barrels and wood has anyone heard of wineries using Acacia wood barrels? A winery in VA (Peramund) is using quite a few.

At an earlier time all the hoops were most likely made from wood, they kept the barrel together. Wooden hoops just at the very “head” of the barrel with a metal “head- hoop” just below it- like Peter said is just “traditional and decorative”. (Good way to protect the head hoops from damage). I believe the barrel may be a Tonnellerie “Quintessence”- Traditional Bordeaux Chateau Barrel.

http://www.tonnelleriequintessence.fr/barrels.html

Salute

Hi James,
You might be interested in the following article from Wines & Vines 3/3/2010 by Paul Franson.

http://www.winesandvines.com/template.c ... tent=72757

Salute

Speaking of barrels and wood has anyone heard of wineries using Acacia wood barrels? A winery in VA (Peramund) is using quite a few.

James,

there are a few wineries who have re-discovered the use of large wooden barrels for aging whites, and some of them use Acacia. My producer Kuenhof, for example, ages his whites in 1/3 Acacia, 2/3 stainless steel.

[James Roscoe]

Black Locust? I suspect we could start a new industry in parts of the US.

Thanks for the info Victor and Oliver. This is an under-discussed fact.

Chestnut is still permitted for the aging of Barolo, but I don't know anyone who's actually doing it.

. I believe the barrel may be a Tonnellerie “Quintessence”- Traditional Bordeaux Chateau Barrel.

The pictured barrel is made on site by Ch Smith Haut Lafitte's own cooper. It is a traditional Bordeaux barrique of 225 litre capacity.

Unfortunately the cooper was on his annual holiday last week so I couldn't ask about the purpose of the chestnut bands.

Well, Peter, there's your answer.

But it doesn't explain the purpose, which is what I think Peter was really after.

I know, Jenise; I was trying to be flippant but that dosen't often work in a written post.

I got it, Jon

I'd wonder (with absolutely no knowledge, but that's never stopped me before) if the bands are just protection for moving barrels. Much easier on the hands than metal.

I'd wonder (with absolutely no knowledge, but that's never stopped me before) if the bands are just protection for moving barrels. Much easier on the hands than metal.

Your comment seems very logical, Dale - not only a degree of protection to hands and the barrel where it needs it the most, but might even make the actual moving of the barrel a little easier.

Just found this article;
Wood boring beetles like the softer chestnut better than the oak.

http://www.winesandvines.com/sections/p ... tent=70974

Salute

Victor is closest to responding to Peter's initial question.

The strips in question are called "vime" - not in French so much as in regional dialect.
These are made of wicker/osier and not of willow, as Victor's link mentions.
By the way, this same vime is also used to tie up vines in Bordeaux.

http://www.cavesa.ch/definition/vime,4916.html

This PDF from Demptos (big in Bordeaux, they also have a subsidiary in California) explains about "vime":
www.demptos.fr/fr_v2/images/dclic_fr.pdf
The purpose, according to them, is twofold:
- protects the barrels, especially during rolling
- as Dale says, makes the barrels easier to handle i.e. move by hand

I nevertheless persist in thinking that vime is used largely for decorative and traditional reasons.

Best regards,
Alex R.

These are made of wicker/osier and not of willow, as Victor's link mentions.

Osier IS willow.

Osier is to willow as squares are to rectangles, i.e., not all willows are osier, thus the need for distinction.

Best regards,
Alex R.

There are two woods -- the brown strips with bark that circle the barrel and the thin strips that bind and wrap around the ends of the wood strips where they meet.

I would have thought the binding was the wicker - that is what it looks like.

The stories we heard were

1) The chestnut bands at the end deterred 'spiders' which disliked its smell.
2) Wood borer 'termites' would choose the soft chestnut wood rather than the hard oak and when the bands showed signs of insect holes it could be removed and replaced.

3) It protected the ends of barrels from damage when being moved.

4) It gave a hand grip to people moving barrels.

I would think most “resident” spider populations in a wine cellar were the “good-guys”, feeding on the “bad-guys”.

Salute

Peter,

Reasons 3 & 4 seem plausible. I and 2 do not.
I work with several coopers but, of course, everyone's away on vacation now.
I'll get back to you on this.

All the best,
Alex R.

I don’t doubt that wooden hoops could possible function as a form of “pest control” (cedar works pretty good), I’m just saying I’m not so sure if I would target the cellar’s “spider population”.

Salute

People plant marigolds between their rows of vegetables because insects go for them first. It might be so for woods and borers.