Category: Archived Articles

By: Gerald Dlubala

Whether the choice is wood, stainless steel or a hybrid combination, barrel makers have unique processes they follow to provide the best possible vessel to their customers. Each type of barrel has had successful wines poured from them. The key is to be consistent in supplying a quality barrel to the customer so that they may, in turn, deliver a quality product to their consumers.

The Certainty Of Science: Trust Cooperage

“We apply science to craft,” says James Molnar, President of Trust Cooperage. Exclusively an oak barrel crafter, Trust cooperage uses predominantly Hungarian Oak in their manufacturing process. They are the largest cooperage East of France, with lab services and a quartet of technicians that look at, study and evaluate wine daily. Additionally, they have a wine cellar on premises to regularly perform wine trials and experiments using their barrels.

“When looking for a quality barrel supplier, it’s critical to look for consistency, the credibility of the oak staves used, control over their oak resources, employees with a lab or technical background, and a consistent and reliable stave supply chain,” Molnar says. “You want someone with a well-informed, quality background working with you, not a career salesman that just happens to be selling barrels.”

Trust has that control over their supply chain, with the ability to screen all components going into their barrels. Their Hungarian oak barrels are crafted only from interior split wood and aged a minimum of two to three years. The staves are organized and stacked loosely on a custom-built concrete pad in a clean, pristine, and breezy location for maximum ventilation, easy rotation and natural seasoning in the sun, wind and rain. Aging them this way purges the harsh tannins and other impurities before they get preheated for shaping and toasted to the desired level of aroma and flavors needed. Everything is stringently controlled, including the temperature, time and exposure to flame. The finishing is controlled by hand before the barrel is closed and pressure tested.

“Our wine barrels are definitely made to last,” says Molnar. “They average a lifespan of three to four aging cycles within the winery before being repurposed into beer barrels, scotch barrels or casks for Caribbean rums. We use our carbon filtered well-water and Airocide units to wash and sterilize the barrels. Then they’re stored in a pristine, climate-controlled atmosphere year-round until wrapped for shipment to our customers.”

Trust also provides oak for alternative methods of fermenting and aging, usually in stainless-steel tanks. They supply staves, wood chips, wooden bullets and wooden pass through sticks to achieve different effects in neutral barrels and fermentation tanks.

Technology And Tradition: East Coast Wood Barrels

George Voicu, Master Cooper of East Coast Wood Barrels, stresses balance in his wood shop, barrel making, and in life. His approach to coopering is a blend between traditional craftsmanship and personally customized technology.

“As a first step in our barrel supply process, we take time to communicate with our customers, assessing their needs and providing suitable product recommendations. Then, the shop utilizes the tools and processes that I have modified and refined through my years of experience. I remain hands on to ensure that only quality materials are included in our barrel assembly process,” says Voicu. “In the final stages, the barrel bending, toasting and charring are all accomplished using a natural wood fire and bellows system. Rounding out our extreme and traditional craftsmanship qualities is the ability to finish the barrel off with custom laser engraving.”

Voicu sources his American white oak, which he calls his foundation, from local mills around Virginia, central Pennsylvania, and New York, while sticking to the Carpathian basin and Transylvania regions of Romania for his European and Hungarian oak supply.

“Wooden barrels have that ability to breathe and oxygenate the contents,” says Voicu. “That unique ability imparts an unmistakable finishing quality in wines that consumers recognize and appreciate. Our barrels are suited for all varietals because of our willingness to use a variety of woods, and their structural integrity far outlasts the wood’s inherent finishing capacity, which ultimately led to my patented wood-stainless hybrid barrel system.”

“Stainless tank and keg systems typically attempt to shut out the outside atmosphere, where a traditional wood barrel breathes. This fact is both blessing and curse,” says Voicu, “as wood barrel oxygenation promotes the chemical reactions in maturation and finish those producers want, yet also threatens longer-storage (vintage) wines with spoilage. Our stainless-steel hybrid system is a secure, workable, and easy to clean solution which promotes in-barrel micro-oxygenation through a traditional wood head; the hybrid design reduces exposure to the outside environment but does not eliminate it. Our hybrid clients also appreciate the flexibility of the removable wood inserter system, where wood to volume ratios and mixable wood profiles can be user adjusted.”

As to his wooden barrels, Voicu says that barrel lifespan is never a question, but whether empty or full, the barrels need consistent and stable storage conditions in environments that support wine finishing.

“The food grade stainless body of the hybrid, when properly handled, should last well past thirty years,” says Voicu. “The internal cylinder is free from extra features that capture contaminants, so cleaning is very simple once the heads and staves are removed. The wood components of the system can then be reused like traditional barrels, or economically replaced after each batch.”

Voicu loves that there has been an uptick in small and amateur wine and spirit producers. He encourages the practice with one bit of advice on barrel aging. “There are many barrel options available, and they are not all created equal. When you reflect upon current market forces and increased pressure upon our forests for higher quality wood required for barrels, alternative storage systems that match or exceed the performance of traditional vessels can make great sense and should be considered. Especially in current conditions, when quality stave wood is in high demand due to the wet 2018 and increased pressure from the mills and manufacturing processes.”

What’s Old is New Again: ReCoop Barrels

Lori Adams is the Director Of Business Development for ReCoop Barrels, a nationwide provider of reconditioned oak barrels. Her customers include wineries, distillers and craft brewers. Located in the heart of Sonoma County, she says she has the unique advantage of easy access to excellent barrels for the reconditioning process.

“We get barrels from partner wineries that have proven maintenance standards and systems,” says Adams. “Others bring in their barrels for reconditioning. We perform a barrel assessment for overall cleanliness, acceptable hydration levels, and stave quality, thickness and general condition. We also look at the winery’s practices as to how they store and maintain their barrels while using them. We’ve also learned that some cooperages don’t do well being toasted a second time. It’s an overall qualification process.”

Because there are no standards or rules for disclosing the use of reconditioned barrels, Adams says that typically large production wineries will not reveal that they are using reconditioned barrels. The medium and smaller producers, however, are generally eager to let the community and their customers know that they are sustainable.

“We don’t keep our reconditioned barrels long term,” says Adams. “We keep our product moving to ensure freshness and maximum usability. With a quality reconditioned barrel, you’ll get another two years of oak extraction out of it. Thereafter, depending on how the customer maintains their barrels, it can be used as neutral once again. It’s just another way to save costs.”

ReCoop is the second oldest manufacturer of reconditioned oak barrels, large and small, and Adams believes that the future is only going to get better.

“We have paid our dues, and now have some of the best winemakers in the world currently using our barrels,” Adams says. “I believe using reconditioned barrels is the future.”

Views From The Vineyard

John Falcone, General Manager and Director of Winemaking at Gainey Vineyards in Santa Ynez, California, uses both wood and stainless in his winemaking, sometimes for the same wine. He replaces a percentage of his older, retired barrels each year, and says his key to producing great wines year after year is consistency in the barrels.

“The whole point is to find a barrel signature that fits the style of wine you want to put out, and then practice consistency. Our barrel lifespan is about six to seven years, transitioning to different wine varietals throughout that time. There are many barrel producers out there, and they all have a story about their wood origins, but sometimes even they are wrong about the source of their supplies, so it’s important to constantly taste from your new barrels to make sure the flavor profile is consistent. The more bells and whistles you want your wine to possess, the more oak power you need in a barrel. Less oak forward barrel aging and fermenting will give you a wine that’s more fruit forward. You need to find a balance that fits your needs.”

All of Gainey’s red wines are barrel aged, needing the flavor and structure that comes from the slow exchange of oxygen in a wood barrel. It results in smoother tasting wine. Some of their white varietals prefer the neutrality of flavor that happens with stainless steel tanks. The tanks are airtight, with no chance of interacting with light or additional aromatics. These wines tend to be more faithful to the natural refreshing fruit essence of the wine. However, Falcone says that even these wines can be run through an older wooden barrel for a couple of weeks before finishing in stainless steel.

“The key is keeping these barrels consistent and serviceable,” says Falcone. “It’s important to stay on a routine. We keep them in cold storage and every six to eight weeks we give them a quick rinse to keep them fresh and swollen and then gas them.

Routine and consistency are also crucial to Silver Oak Winery in both Napa Valley and Alexander Valley, California. They use only American white oak and French oak, so it’s critical they have a reliable, consistent barrel supplier to meet the demands of the award-winning vintner.

“We use, at least, ninety-year-old American and French oak for our barrels,” says Vanessa Hart, Enologist at Silver Oak. “It has the straightest grain with the least number of knots. Surprisingly, very little of the wood is used for barrel staves. It’s only the wood that starts six to eight inches above ground up to the first branches.”

“American oak has more potential for stronger flavor and aromatics when compared to French oak, so that goes into the decision on what type of barrel we use for each wine,” says Nate Weis, Vice President of wine growing at Silver Oak. “American oak trees are grown in roughly thirty states now and are subject to the same variances in their life as grapevines are, meaning the ground they are grown on, the landscape, climate, and nutritional availability. Where they are grown matters, so routine tastings are a must to keep a consistent product.”

By: Alyssa Ochs

With wine, it’s not only important to control what’s inside the bottles, but also how those bottles are sealed and packaged. There are numerous types of wine bottle closures available to wineries today, including corks, caps, and seals made from both natural and synthetic materials. The bevy of options poses certain challenges for wine producers looking to choose the best closures for their bottles based upon cost-effectiveness, overall benefits, and current trends.

Types of Wine Bottle Closures

Corks are the most traditional and familiar type of closure in the wine industry, yet these closures come in the form of natural corks, plastic corks, and technical corks. There are also different types of caps, such as screw caps and crown caps, that serve as wine closures. A unique synthetic closure called a ZORK, wax seals, and glass Vinolock closures are also used by wineries to enhance the appearance and quality of the wine.

What Wineries Are Using Today

Every winery approaches bottle closures a bit differently, but certain closure types are increasingly popular and trending right now. Donald E. Hagge, Ph.D., a farmer, physicist and winemaker for VIDON Vineyard in Newberg, Oregon told The Grapevine Magazine that his winery currently uses Vinoseal glass closures and screwcaps. VIDON has shifted to these closure types after using corks in the beginning.

“A percentage of wines that use corks will be either tainted or oxidized after some time in bottles,” Hagge said. “Corks are used for traditional reasons in spite of their problems.”

Sean Comninos, winemaker for William Heritage Winery in Mullica Hill, New Jersey, says his winery uses both Stelvin closures and Diam corks at this time.

“The William Heritage brand is currently 100% under various grades of Diam depending on the aging window,” he said. “We use Stelvin on our ‘Jersey Wine Collection’ brand, as these wines are meant to be drunk immediately and are more for casual enjoyment.”

Comninos said that in the very beginning, all their wines were under the same agglomerated cork. As the winery grew, it began using Stelvin closures for the Jersey brand because it made these wines more accessible and kept oxygen transfer at a minimum. The winery used Nomacork for a little while, but this closure didn’t have the ease of opening that Stelvin offered.

“We were using a combination of agglomerated and natural corks in the Heritage line for quite some time,” Comninos said. “Ultimately, we felt that even though we were spending a lot of money on premium natural cork, and we had too much inconsistency. Many bottles showed cork taint or premature oxidation. The lower end wines felt a bit cheap with the agglomerated corks. I had begun to see a lot of the corks I was pulling from various producers seemed to be made by Diam around 2014 and 2015. Not a single one was flawed, and I felt that the cork had an acceptable aesthetic quality. So, with the 2015 vintage, we switched the entire line to Diam. I’ve been quite pleased with the results due to no TCA issues, no bleed-through corks, or weird oxidative issues at all.”

Popular Wine Closure Products

Many highly experienced companies specialize in bottle closures to help wineries make the best choices for their operations.

Lakewood Cork, an independently owned and operated business in Watkins Glen, New York has been exclusively distributing Gultig Corks since 1997. Owner Chris Stamp told The Grapevine Magazine that his most popular closure is a micro-agglomerated cork called Carat. He said that one of the drawbacks of using natural cork for wine is the potential for cork taint, but with Carat, the supplier uses a patented cleaning process to eliminate cork taint issues.

“The construction of the cork provides a consistent surface that is nice for branding,” Stamp said. “In addition, this cork is one of our least expensive closure options.”

Richard Smith of Tecnocap in Glen Dale, West Virginia, said the tinplate continuous thread closure is a common closure among wineries today. This type of closure is relatively inexpensive and seals bottles effectively. Another closure that is ideal for wine bottles is Tecnocap’s Espritbonnet.

“This is a plastic closure with a customizable metal overcap,” Smith told The Grapevine Magazine. “When used with a capsule, the bottle has a similar appearance of a corked bottle. The metal can be customized with solid colors or elaborate graphics. The liner typically is an expanded polyethylene foam, but other liners can be used that match the needs of the individual winery.”

Liz Green of Mala Closure Systems in Petaluma, California, said that her company currently only manufacturers screw caps. She firmly believes that these closures are great alternatives to cork.

“We don’t like to promote any superiority in closures since the sealing mechanism can actually have a great deal to do with the final stages of the winemaking process,” Green said. “What our customer’s find is that screw caps, also known as BVS finish or ROPP finish, are often more consistent than cork and capsule. The great thing about BVS in wine is that it’s all a standardized size, no matter the volume.”

Cost-Effectiveness of Wine Closures

Every type of wine closure that exists has its pros and cons, but some of these factors are more important than others for wineries. One top factor to consider is cost-effectiveness, and companies offer a comprehensive range of closure options to fit any budget and product type.

Bobbi Stebbins of Waterloo Container, a supplier of wine bottle caps, corks, and closures in Waterloo, New York, has found that cork customers tend to have a predisposition towards natural or synthetic cork before they call Waterloo for their closure supply.

“Corks are often the most cost-effective closure, for smaller wineries especially, as they require nothing more than a basic hand corker to apply,” Stebbins said. “Natural agglomerated cork options maintain the appeal of cork at an unbeatable price point.  Disc-style corks offer a ‘step up’ from the agglo corks with natural punched cork presenting at the opening and in contact with the product. Colorful PVC capsules combined with customized cork options can elevate even the most inexpensive cork to a worthwhile opening presentation.”

Stebbins went on to explain that synthetic or plant-based cork options are often able to endure more challenging storage conditions compared to natural cork. “This allows wineries to purchase larger quantities at savings while not worrying about the product expiring or drying out, which results in savings in the long-term,” she said. “Storage conditions are not always ideal; thus this type of cork option with a longer shelf life maximizes value.”

Wine Closure Trends

Trends come and go over time, yet it’s smart to learn about emerging technologies and note where the closure industry is headed.  Concerning trends, Hagge of VIDON Vineyard said, “More wineries are using screw caps each year.”  Stebbins has also been seeing a trend toward screw caps. Many of the company’s medium-size and large wineries are making the switch to Stelvin brand capsules.

“The screw cap can be customized to suit a brand, specific to desired oxygenation levels, and offer consistency from bottle-to-bottle that a natural product may not always provide,” Stebbins said. “The outlay cost of specialized cap application equipment may be daunting to smaller wineries; however, those using co-packers or mobile bottling services are very willing to make the switch.”

Meanwhile, Comninos has been noticing a trend of prioritizing more consistency, whether that be by use of screw caps, Diam, or some other closure to ensure that each bottle tastes the same no matter its closure.

“Every cork producer out there will say they have the best cork, but the very nature of the bark is highly variable,” Comninos said. “The days of a romantic attachment to solid, variably porous pieces of cork are over, in my opinion. I feel our customers deserve to know that they are tasting exactly what we intended to sell them.”

Comninos also believes that cans are a great closure and packaging system for certain types of wine. “Portability and smaller-serving sizes are very appealing to a broad range of people. We obviously will not be canning our higher-end products, but look for a rosé, off-dry white, and a red [in cans] from us in late spring or early summer.”

Stamp of Lakewood Cork has seen a definite uptick in demand for the G-Cap, which is a Stelvin-type closure.

“While demand for traditional corks has remained fairly strong for us, we see an increase year-after-year for this alternative,” Stamp said. “They are attractively priced when compared to a good quality cork and provide a consistently perfect seal. They are available in numerous attractive stock colors, with optional printing. Many people like the twist-off convenience these caps offer.”

Mala Closure Systems’ Green said that as with so many industries in California, there’s been a movement towards recycling and environmental sustainability in the wine closure industry. “I personally believe, and it is my experience, that this trend lends itself more to screw caps due to the fact that aluminum is infinitely recyclable, whereas cork is not,” Green said. “Corks that go into wine bottles can only be used once due to potential bacteria growth and contamination.”

Top Considerations for Choosing Wine Closures

There are many things to consider before settling on a new type of closure for your wine, and, fortunately, there are many experienced professionals on-hand to guide you through the selection process.

Stamp of Lakewood Cork said that as a winemaker, he chooses his closure based on the type of wine he is bottling. For example, he leans towards a straight, natural cork for a wine that will benefit from extended aging.

“These are more expensive than some other options, but they have a great track record for protecting wine while letting it evolve nicely for many years,” he said.

However, Stamp has found that lower-priced wines that aren’t meant to age for six or more years tend to be good candidates for Carat closures.

“Our Stelvin-type closure called ‘G-Cap’ is also a good choice, as the wine evolves differently under the hermetic seal of these caps,” he said. “I think it is important to consider your clientele’s expectations when selecting a closure. Whatever you select becomes part of the package. The package communicates with your customers.”

When assisting wineries in choosing a closure, Green of Mala Closure Systems asks wineries what their primary goals and most important values are in the winemaking process and then reminds them of the ways that screw caps can assist in that process. These reasons could range from sustainability to long-term aging of wine, wide-ranging production, marketing prominence, and other considerations.

“As this point in time, the stigma of screw cap bottled wine being ‘cheap’ is going away pretty quickly,” Green said. “This is because we’ve now had more than a decade, almost two, of wine in BVS or ROPP bottles with scientific evidence that it operates in more efficient and consistent ways than in cork-sealed bottles.”

Smith of Tecnocap’s piece of advice to wineries is to imagine that every wine is a discovery. “You want to use the best closure for your process, the varietal, aging, consistency, and the other factors which are important to you,” he said. “Take advantage of the technology today to produce your best product.”

Finally, Stebbins of Waterloo Container emphasized how a wine closure company’s thorough product knowledge and useful recommendations can shape customer experience.

“Often, the client’s brand determines the bottle and the closure, which is to say that marketing may have already determined the price point, look, and experience the winery is working to achieve with any particular bottle of wine,” Stebbins said. “The closure needs to fit those parameters to reach the overall goal. Knowledge of the customer’s brand and preference is key when guiding their closure decision.”

By Piero Spada, LLC

Are you starting a winery while only considering what it will take to open your doors on day one? That’s a great place to start but big picture that can also be a huge mistake! Most wineries I have worked with experience at least 1 major expansion (if not 2) in their first 5 year of business. WHY? Well, in short because their business demands it. In the first 3 years you are likely to hit your stride and have a much better idea of consumer demand, and in turn your business will need to match that demand with supply (basic business 101). Generating more supply will require a larger working area in which to create and store the wine.

Consider this, in Wisconsin alone, it has been estimated that only 4% of all wine sold in the state is produced in the state of Wisconsin. WOW! The same is true of most cold climate production areas, where growing V. vinifera varietals is not an option. The point here is there is a lot of room to gain market share but only if you’re poised to capitalize on this opportunity. Don’t let poor upfront winery layout be a deterrent to future building expansion plans.

Below, we’ll cover the basic construction elements of a startup production winery, while considering the most efficient means of expansion. There is not a one size fits all solution to this conundrum but certain elements remain true from project to project. Note, this article doesn’t cover the necessary legal hurdles, nor am I certified electrician, plumber, contractor, or in the “trades” whatsoever. Outlined below are the nuts and bolts (or raw essentials) of what needs to be discussed with a professional in their own respective field or general contractor.

Size / Scale / Layout

The minimum suggested scale for a commercial winery that I typically recommend is in the 1000 – 2000 case size. For the most part, this starting scale is needed to justify the upfront cost of starting a winery (building cost, commercial wine equipment, etc.). For a 1500 case winery, plan on a minimum building size of 3,500 ft2 with roughly 1/3 space devoted to tasting room and 2/3 production/finished case storage. Obviously you can add a porch, office, event space (to be discussed), kitchen, etc. as you see fit. In the production area, other space “hogs” not considered here are: a separate barrel room and warehouse room for stored cased goods (the most common space obstacle that beginning wineries face).

Other than getting the minimum dimensions correct, the one big tip I can offer once the area of expansion has been identified, is to keep in mind how future building additions will tie together. Elements such as: roof line, utilities, placement of windows and doorways, and wastewater drains. These elements should be discussed with your architect, contractor, and/or builder before the initial winery building construction commences.

Electrical Power

At the aforementioned starting scale, at least 200-amp electrical service to your building should be installed. Ideally 400-amps of electrical service will provide more than ample power for your startup winery with significant room to grow into while keeping expansion in mind. And with regards to voltage, in general “Smaller boutique wineries, 10,000 square feet or less, require 208 volts. Motor sizes are generally 20 horsepower or less…” 1. This is a general rule of thumb, and for one or two pieces of equipment that require 480 volts it may be less expensive to have a transformer bump-up voltage to 480 volts for those two pieces of equipment than having 480 volts delivered to the building and having to step-down the voltage for all remaining piece of equipment on 220 volts.

Single Phase electrical power is an okay starting point at this scale but if you have access to 3 phase (common near urban / industrial parks/ large scale farms), I’d recommend tying into that upfront. At larger scale, most large pieces of equipment utilizing a frequency drive or motors at greater than 5 hp demand 3 phase electrical power.2 However, the need to upscale to 3 phase power depends on your end-goal production. If 3 phase power is only needed for several key pieces of equipment (press, destemmer/crusher, tank mixer, monoblock bottling line, etc.), purchasing a phase converter may be all that is needed. Ultimately there is a lot to consider here and your electrician should determine what supply is needed to meet your peak electrical load.

Water Supply / Wastewater / Drainage

For sanitation, you’ll want an on-demand hot water heater capable of hitting 180-185°F (commercial grade units start out ~$1500). In order to maintain 180°F for prolonged periods of time, the min. recommended flow rate is 1 – 2 gallon per minute. The on-demand water unit can have dual functionality as it can be used to sanitize winery production equipment on the production end and it can also be used to sanitize stemware on the tasting room end.

In the production area, figure on having 1-2 water access points (hose bibs) per wall. Minimizing the distance between heat source and end-point should be considered in order to increase efficiency and decrease heat loss. And lateral water lines that carry water from the source to its endpoint should be at least ¾” in diameter, as opposed to the standard ½”.

For wastewater management, there is no universal system that is suitable to all wineries. The four most common options to choose from include: surface spreading, aerobic biological treatment, settling holding tank / septic tank, or municipal sewage system (easiest if available near you).

The placement of such systems should be outside the zone of potential expansion! For example, placing a holding tank or septic tank in area that is in the area of possible expansion is going to cost you a pretty penny to have it moved out of the way – an easy fix that could have been avoided with prior proper planning.

Each winery should consult with local authorities to determine the best course of action. For more information on this topic see Winery Wastewater Treatment by Bruce Zoecklein.3

Just as water use is a ubiquitous part of winemaking, so is its removal from the winery (typically done by a drain system). Take into consideration figures A) and B). In this scenario if you likely know that production area will expand outward (the 40’ x 40’ area on the right side of the picture in Figure B), adding a connection point for the trench drain that is near the right wall in section A, will allow for a seamless transition. In this scenario the builders won’t have to tear up the concrete floor in the current site to tie the drain system in to the new site. And if the current winery floor has in-ground (radiant) heating and you haven’t planned accordingly? Your cost has just skyrocketed.

Building Ceiling Height

In the Production area, the ceiling height should ideally be at least 16’ high. Why? For two reasons: 1) this allows you to stack 2 pallets of empty glass high during bottling (note a minimum 14’ is needed for filled bottles, assuming cases are stacked 5 high/each pallet and 2 pallets per column) and 2) as your production volume increases size, so will your tank size – having tall ceilings allows for larger tanks! In short, as tanks often increase in size a greater rate upward than outward, investing in tall ceilings upfront makes it a lot easier to increase wine capacity.

Misc. Items that Should be Considered

a) Outdoor Crush Pad: At the starting scale of 1500 cases, a good size crush pad is 30’ x 30’ but could easily be 50’ x 50’ off of the production-end. One of biggest mistakes I see, is having a crush pad that is too small. During harvest and crush you don’t want to be working in the mud! Like all production areas, the concrete that is poured should be able to withstand the weight of a forklift, pallets of bottles, tanks, etc. (typically 5” or greater in thickness). In addition, due to local wastewater runoff regulations, one may need to install a specific wastewater containment system on your crush pad.

b) Garage Door: Cater the winery’s overhead garage door to the largest piece of equipment that will need to enter your building. Sometimes this is a tank, or a press and other times it may be mobile bottling line or semi-trailer. In the last scenario, a minimum clearance of 13’ is often required in order to properly back a mobile line into the winery.

c) Loading Dock: Although not an absolute necessity in the beginning, a loading dock with a docking plate (height adjustable) makes loading and off-loading logistics much simpler that taking the forklift to the back of semi and using a palette jack to move items to the back of the truck for pickup (Figure C). Unloading and loading glass in this manner can quickly become cumbersome and inefficient.

d) Production Floor Sealant: Production floors must be able to withstand a battery of abuse from constant foot traffic, heavy loads (forklift / pallet jack), and should be chemical and water resistant. In addition to being able to withstand the wear and tear of winemaking, the floor should be user friendly (i.e. slip resistant). In order to get the most out of your concrete floor, consider using an Epoxy Resin and Urethane protective coating. Doing so will increase the longevity of your production floor and there are many products on the market to choose from. For more information see “Finding the Right Floor System” (GVM Nov./Dec. 2017).

Event Space / Tasting Bar

Last but not least, the bulk of this article is viewed through a production lens. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the sales side of a winery building. After all, when you’re not busy making it, you should be busy selling it.

Without a doubt, the wineries that I’ve bared witness to with the fastest rates of growth are hosting events (weddings, rehearsals, private parties, live music, craft shows, food & wine pairing dinners, part of wine trails, etc.). Other than having the obvious space to hold events, you must have in place the appropriate support amenities: prep. kitchen, restrooms, storage space, etc. And according to your local building code, make sure your plans have been submitted to ALL local and state authorities (Commercial Building inspector) before starting construction! I recently heard of one horror story involving a winery that built a special events barn to the tune of $400K only to find out from a state inspector after construction that it was out of code due to the building’s occupancy capacity. It needed a fire mitigation system to comply with the state building codes – tack on another $120K after the fact — Ouch!

For the tasting room, the two tips I can give you is with regards to flow of people. First, have a dedicated and segregated checkout area that is separate to your tasting bar. Ideally, this checkout area would be located right next to the exit of your building. Secondly, on busy days when you need to setup multiple tasting bars to cater to all your customers, devise a plan that considers flow from both a customer and staff perspective. Planning and implementing these flow through systems are important to efficiently moving traffic in / out of the tasting room. For more information on Visitor Flow, see “Trends in Winery Construction that Maximize Revenue” (GVM, Nov./Dec. 2017).

In short, putting in the upfront effort to implement some simple layout considerations for your new winery can help save significant money down the road when in comes to expanding your production area. After all, in this business, there is no shortage of places to spend money elsewhere.

Happy Winemaking!

Many thanks to Ryan Prellwitz of Vines & Rushes Winery for his input and review of this article.

By Jessica Spengler

The love of the land, of the vine, of the grape, and of course, of the wine is the reason many vintners get into the wine industry. The idea of building a business with the sweat of your brow and creating a fantastic result is what motivates people to keep going. However, to make the dream a reality, you have to sell that product. Your product needs to appeal to the consumer through smell and taste, but also with a well-crafted label and an interesting bottle. Then, you need to show it to your customers in the best way possible. This is where a beautiful built display becomes essential.

There are many ways of thinking about how to display your wine. For some producers, just getting the wine in front of the customer is what matters, and as long as it’s there, they don’t care how it looks. For others, high-end woods and displays even more impressive than the wine are all that will suffice. Most wineries and retailers prefer to be somewhere in between, with a display that will attract consumers to purchase their wines but also allow for customer accessibility, inventory management, and other day-to-day functions.

Types of Wine Displays & Racking

When wine racks are set up correctly, they lead to higher sales. Ideally, customers should have access to a label-forward display and inventory behind, underneath or above. There are multiple ways to set up a retail space that accomplishes this.

Standard wine racks

A standard wine rack is one of the best ways to maximize space, control inventory and display wine beautifully. Racks can be made from a bevy of materials, but most often are wooden, with a label-forward display row and cork-forward storage below and above. Standard racks are built to fit a case of standard wine bottles, and sometimes two cases, depending on height.

Diamond and Rectangular Bins

For bulk storage wines, diamond and rectangular bins allow retailers to stack standard Bordeaux bottles without fear of breakage. These are most often used for less expensive wines or wines with large inventories. Diamond and rectangular bins should not be used for wines in burgundy bottles that have a rounded bottom and no shoulder. The decorative element of these bins can add an element of design to this bulk storage.

Wine Islands and Tables

Wine islands are similar to standard wine racks. However, the top of the island is where the display bottle is laid with a place for 12–to–13 bottles underneath. Wine tables are similar to islands in that they hold a full case of each wine, but instead of a display on top, there is a flat surface or table for displays or to hold tastings. This is a common option in retail environments where there is not a specified area for tastings.

VintageView

A new trend in wine storage is the metal “Vintageview” style. These powder-coated racks display the wine bottle on its side rather than cork-forward, and the back stock of bottles are laid in a similar fashion behind the display bottle and moved forward as customers purchase inventory. This is a versatile rack fashioned to a winery’s or retailer’s liking and seems to take up less space than traditional wooden racks. However, displaying the bottle on its side doesn’t necessarily save room, and the racks offer little bulk storage.

Barrel Racks

While many retailers may not have wine barrels in store, most wineries have them on the premises. Barrel racks are an excellent way to store, move and monitor your aging wine in an organized way. These racks come in single, two-barrel, four-barrel, or customized sizes by companies such as Rack & Maintenance Source (rackandmaintenance.com) near Walla Walla, Washington.

Rack & Maintenance opened in 2000 as a small shop that initially serviced wineries in their hometown of Walla Walla and parts of the Northwest. Now they’re a world-wide barrel rack supplier. The company makes their racks in-house with the highest grade American stainless steel, as well as from mild steel with powder coating. Powder coating gives producers color options while protecting steel from rust, and when maintained correctly, can help these racks last a lifetime.

Rack & Maintenance has a bevy of barrel rack options that allow vintners to move barrels using a forklift, stack barrels safely and even stack different rack setups on top of one another.

The standard barrel rack, a seven-inch, double-bar, two-barrel rack, was designed with safety in mind. “Double-bar means the pocket opening, where you would put the forklift in to lift it. It’s also a safety feature. If [the forklift driver] stops too quick, the rack catches on the fork, so [the barrels] aren’t gonna fall off,” said Kristin Subryan, Rack & Maintenance Source VP of Regional Sales. These racks are available in both two-barrel and four-barrel and can be stacked up to six high, with the bottom of the rack resting on top of the barrel beneath.

Unlike standard barrels, Rack & Maintenance’s “stack rack” locks into the rack beneath it rather than on top of the barrels for a stable, more flexible rack setup.

“The price point is a little bit higher but [vintners] like them because they’re versatile. We can do a standard barrel rack, or we can do a chardonnay barrel with a roller. That way you can stack regular racks [on top of] racks with rollers,” said Subryan.

Stack racks provide stability unseen in standard barrel racks.

“When we did the crush test on them, they were able to withstand up to 10,000 lbs of pressure before the feet flattened on the floor. It’s just a well-built, steady-on-the-ground rack,” said Subryan.

For those vintners looking for barrel racks to help them maximize space, the four-inch single-bar racks are best, according to Subryan. “It’s popular because of height restrictions. If you’re down in a cellar, if you have caves or places like that with a low ceiling, a four-inch rack’s gonna get you more barrels on your height.”

For inventory management, she suggests the seven-inch double-bar. “If you need to get into the bung of the barrel, the seven-inch rack is the rack you’re gonna need,” she said. “If they need to get a [wine] thief in there, if they need to access the wine in the barrel, their gonna want a seven inch-rack. The four-inch racks are too close to each other that they’re not able to access the bung.”

Rack & Maintenance also offers a single-barrel rack that will safely stack an uneven amount of barrels together. This accessory is designed to fit nicely between two barrels and distribute weight evenly. Additionally, they offer a raised barrel washing stand outfitted with wheels for easy cleaning.

“If you come in with your forklift and you pick up your two barrels [on the rack], you can zip it over to a barrel washing stand and drop the rack down. The barrels will land on the rollers, and the rack will drop down, right underneath the barrels, and rest there. It’s at the right height, so you’re not breaking your back to move these barrels,” said Subryan.

Customization

Customized cabinetry and racks expand display options for wineries and retailers. Wine and barrel rack designers and manufacturers are more than willing to work with their consumers to fit their differing needs and requirements.

Rack Materials

The materials available for wine storage, from wine cellars in tasting rooms to displays in retail stores are varied, and each has their purpose, pros and cons. For wood racks, hardwoods are best.

Metal

Metal is commonly used for backroom storage, barrel racks, as well as VintageView and other metal racking.

Redwood

Once the most commonly used material for constructing wooden wine racks and wine cellars, the endangered status of coast redwoods and giant sequoias means industry alternatives are necessary.
Wine Cellar Innovations (WCI), a wine cellar design firm and manufacturer in Cincinnati, Ohio, uses redwood guaranteed to be harvested sustainably for nearly 75 percent of their constructions. On its website, WCI explains why.

“All of our redwood is purchased under the guidelines of SFI, Sustainable Forestry Initiative (sfiprogram.org). SFI Certification provides customers with the assurance that the redwood you purchase from Wine Cellar Innovations has been harvested in an environmentally sound manner.”

WCI’s continued use of redwood trees is simple: they believe it is the best option.

“It is naturally moisture resistant, and it is non-aromatic. A refrigerated room is going to have high humidity, so you want wood that is going to hold up well to high humidity. It is non-aromatic, which is good because wine will breathe and take on odors in the room,” said Brett Norris, a wine cellar design consultant at Wine Cellar Innovations (winecellarinnovations.com).

Mahogany

Charles Griffiths is the owner of Vigilant Inc. (vigilantinc.com), a Dover, New Hampshire-based designer of wine cabinetry, cellars and racks. He told The Grapevine Magazine that his first choice is mahogany, a wood that is similar to redwood in its ability to hold up in high humidity and non-aromatic qualities, among other things.

“We’ve been using different types of mahogany for the entire time the company’s been around. We really like the material, it’s great to work with, it’s strong, it looks good, it takes stain well,” said Griffiths.

Other woods

For wineries or retailers looking to use a different sort of wood for their racks, wine rack manufacturers are more than willing to take requests— but at a cost.

“Black walnut’s been popular the last three years; it’s finally starting to die down a little bit. So that’s fine, we can say ‘yeah we can do this in black walnut, it’s gonna be this much more because we’re gonna have to source the material and mold the material and get it to where you want it to be,’” Griffiths said.

Finishing is just as important as wood selection, Griffiths said. “It’s not just what it looks like, but we use conversion varnish or lacquer on all our racks and all of our cabinetry that’s good for protecting the wood and keeping dust and wine, if it spills, off the product. It’s just a nice protective product.”

Planning the Space

Designing a cellar or display rack should start as early as possible when planning a new construction or remodel, particularly if there are any plans for climate control or refrigeration.

Norris told The Grapevine Magazine, “When an architect specs out a wine cellar room, that’s when they need to start reaching out and figuring out what this customer might need. You don’t want to wait too long. I would say one of the challenges I run into is people not giving us a call early enough in their projects,” he said.” I’ve seen many new house constructions and remodel projects be nearly finished, and then they call the wine cellar guy and say ‘Hey can you come help us with this project?’ Well, we might be past the point of no return on somethings or people may have to redo work that’s already finished.”

Griffiths agreed. “When we get proposals, what happens is, someone may call us, and they haven’t done much of anything. That is preferable to us because they say, ‘Look I’m just reaching out, we’re a year out from opening a new location, and we’re thinking about doing this, we’re trying to get some ideas going, we just want to include you in the design process.’ That’s when they’re using us to the biggest advantage.”

The key, said Griffiths, is to define what you want for the business early in the planning process.

“We’re very design-oriented, so we like to start out with the stakeholders and find out what it is they’re trying to do. Sometimes their goals are well-defined, and we’re just coming in and slipstreaming it into what their plans are, and we are able to get them what they want. A lot of other times they’ve got a blank slate, and then, a lot of cases they’ve got an architect or designer who’s said, ‘I’ve earmarked this area for wine storage, I don’t really know a lot about exactly how it’s all supposed to go together, but can you please help us with that,’” he said.

According to Norris, one of the first things to discuss is the how a winery or retailer would like to display their wines.

“A wine retailer specifically, one of the things they have to think about is how are they going to display the wines. Alcohol, liquor, wine need to be in front of the customer to be purchased instead of in a box in the back waiting for a spot on the shelf,” he said. “Talking with us about how our racks can be organized together, how we can lay out a store to help separate different wineries versus how many types of bottles or how many kinds of bottles, or whether they want to do a case – or threes, fours or sixes – of a wine. They pretty much work with us to help maximize a space, help display a lot of bottles.”

Location in the store, often referred to as “real estate,” is a primary factor, too.

“We get into formats; we get into how many different areas and how you’ll set your store up. Are you setting your store up by country, are you setting your store up by region, are you setting up your store by varietal?” Griffiths said. “That’s the stuff that we bring up, and they usually ponder on it for a while before they come back and want to dig into a design and come up with what they think is most important.”

In the end though, what is most important is functionality. Getting feedback from the often overlooked store or tasting room manager may be worth the effort.

“You can build a lot of pretty cabinets and racks and stuff, but it always has to make sense in terms of functionality,” said Griffiths. “It’s funny, I go out on a lot of these projects for the implementation, and the people that are actually using your product, you’ve never met them before. They’re the food and beverage manager, or the store manager, and nobody ever consulted them at all. And they wonder ‘How come it’s being done this way?’ Those people at that end, they want things to be very functional because they’re using it every day and they want to be able to do their business in as easy a way as possible.”

Benefits of Using a Consultant

Enlisting companies like Vigilant Inc. (https://vigilantinc.com/) and Wine Cellar Innovations will allow you to make the most of your space and to address questions that you may not know the answers to such as climate control. These companies also offer installation and customization to make sure you have what you want and can offer advice on things an owner, builder or designer may not have fully considered.

“We listen to the customer and figure out what their goals are,” said Norris. “We help them take that space, come up with racking designs, and show them bottle capacity information and work with their builder to execute the construction of the room. We offer installation services as well. The customer can elect to hire us to come and assemble the racks and install them in the room, which, can be a bit of a complicated process too, so it’s good to have us and our factory trained installers assemble the wine racks in the field too.”

By Nan McCreary

Most people assume that California is the birthplace of American wine. In fact, in the 1870’s — when California was just establishing commercial winemaking — tiny Bracken County, on the banks of the Ohio River in Kentucky Bluegrass Country, was the leading wine-producing county of the U.S., supplying over 30,000 gallons of wine annually. At the center of this production was Baker-Bird Winery, the oldest commercial winery in America that is still operating on its original land.

“At the time, the Ohio River Valley was the place to grow grapes in the U.S.,” according to Dinah Bird, who purchased the winery in 2003 with the intention of bringing the property back to its glory days. “The German immigrants who settled here said the hilly area reminded them of their homeland and they called it ‘America’s Rhineland.’ With their heritage of wine, grape production flourished. I want to restore that history, and create wines that reflect our culture and our terroir.”

The Baker-Bird Winery was established by ancestors of John Baker, a German immigrant and early settler of Augusta, Kentucky. Baker’s son Abraham purchased land where the winery stands today, and his son, Abraham Baker, Jr., built the winery in the 1850s. During this era, a Cincinnati entrepreneur named Nicholas Longworth planted hundreds of acres of grapes in the Ohio River Valley and became internationally famous for his sparkling wine made from the native Catawba grape. Longworth helped put the area on the wine map, creating a market for the growing number of German immigrants who wanted an affordable, drinkable table wine to continue with the traditions of their homeland.

The “Golden Age” of wine in Northern Kentucky, however, was short-lived. “After the Civil War, there was a labor crunch when the slaves were freed,” Bird told The Grapevine Magazine. “Also, there were wet summers in the late 1860s and early 1870s, and grapes succumbed to black rot and powdery mildew. The nail in the coffin was the discovery of a mutant strain of tobacco in the area — white burley — which was extremely popular. As farmers were losing grapevines to fungus, they started growing tobacco. Soon, the area was the premier tobacco producing region in the U.S.”

The Baker-Bird winery, like so many, sat dormant until Bird purchased it in 2003. She named the historic wine cellar in the German tradition, Baker-Bird Winery, combining the names of the founder and the current owner. “My goal is to restore a lost piece of history, and to help people have a positive agricultural wine experience,” Bird said.

For Bird, with a background in chemistry and a passion for history, the purchase was serendipity. “I love the ‘magic’ of the winemaking process,” she said. “This is where my background and my love of winemaking and history intersect.”

The Baker-Bird Winery is one of 22 wineries in the U.S. National History Registry, and the vineyard land is on its own National Historic Registry. It is the only winery in the country that was in a Civil War Battle, where it served as a refuge for women and children during the Battle of Augusta in 1862. Because of that rich history, the winery is also on the Civil War Heritage Trail and the Freedom Trail.

Today, under Bird’s direction, the Baker-Bird Winery is poised to make a comeback. “While we have done a lot of restoration, we have left the building as it was as much as possible,” Bird said.

The original winery, mostly intact, is a three-story structure built into a hillside, with the vineyard on top of the hill. The cellar is 90 feet long by 40 feet wide and 40 feet high. The room is cavernous, with stone walls and a dirt floor. Bird has added drainage tiles and gravel to keep the floor dry. The cellar is a popular venue for special events, particularly wedding-related events such as bridal showers, rehearsal dinners and receptions. The second story, the original pressing room, is now the tasting room, with a bar, fire pits and tables and chairs. Bird installed decking and a bathroom and upgraded the electricity (from the 1930s), so it would meet code. The third level is an attic, which serves as a storage room. “The people who owned the property before me used the attic for hanging tobacco and they’d auction off the leaves,” Bird said. “The room still smells like tobacco.”

To one side of the building is a small winery, required for a Kentucky Small Farm Winery License. In 2009, Bird opened the cellar and the tasting room to the public. Currently, Bird outsources her grapes from local growers, producing 400 to 500 cases per year, all premium wines. Bird’s goal is to replant the vineyard and add a much-larger wine-making facility.” In 2006 we had the soils tested, and determined that it’s the perfect place for growing grapes,” she said. “The site is terraced, with good orientation and ventilation. You can still see the stone terraces from the original vineyard. There’s a lot of limestone in the soil, so drainage is excellent.”

Bird’s passion for winemaking — and training in viticulture and winemaking at the University of California Davis — give her a leg up in bringing out the true expression of grapes native to the Ohio Valley. Most are French-American hybrid grapes, including Vidal Blanc, the most popular grape grown in Kentucky for white wine. “Vidal Blanc is planted so much because it can tolerate the freeze/thaw cycles we have in the spring,” Bird said. “It is a very versatile grape. Like Chardonnay in California, it can be made with many expressions.” Bird makes a dry, semi-dry and sweet version of Vidal Blanc.

The only Vitis Vinifera on the Baker-Bird menu of nine wines is a Cabernet Franc. Vitis Vinifera grapes cannot survive the cold temperatures of Northern Kentucky, but Cabernet Franc can tolerate temperatures as low as minus-25 F. One of Baker-Bird’s best-selling wines is a Cabernet Franc Blanc, where they remove the skins before fermentation. According to the Baker-Bird website, the Cabernet Franc Blanc ‘releases a burst of exotic aromas’ and is ‘a distinct Kentucky wine produced from a French grape.’

The signature wines at Baker-Bird Winery — and the ones that have received national and international accolades — are the Bourbon Barrel Wines, complex red and white wines that have been aged at least six months in bourbon barrels. “Anyone can make wine,” Bird said, “but the best wines have a story behind them. Bourbon barrels reflect our culture: what wine is to California, bourbon is to Kentucky. This is who we are.”

Baker-Bird’s Black Barrel Wine, a red made from Cabernet Franc, takes 11 years to produce. The Kentucky bourbon ferments in a heavily-charred barrel for nine years. The Cabernet Franc ferments in a white oak bourbon barrel for one year. Then the wine is racked from the oak barrel to the used bourbon barrel for six months to a year. The resulting wine is a very smooth dry red wine with bourbon undertones.

According to Bird, the bourbon barrel wines account for one-third of Baker-Bird’s sales. “I didn’t invent this process,” she said, “but I did commercialize it and make it in quantities, and now I ship it to three states. The wines go great with hushpuppies, a local favorite around here, so it reflects our culture and our climate.”

Bird noted that she was, indeed, the first to make a white wine in bourbon barrels. The wine, called Lightning Strike, is made from Vidal Blanc with a hint of bourbon that comes from the bourbon barrels. Initially, this was slightly problematic. “It was very difficult to make the white wine from a charred bourbon barrel,” Bird said. “All bourbon barrels are charred, and even though the wine tasted good, it did not look good. So, the process had to be perfected.”

As Baker-Bird is aspired to grow, she delights in watching Kentucky viticulture also grow, especially now that tobacco production has moved overseas. In 1990, Kentucky had one winery. In 1994, the State passed legislation to allow small farm wineries. By 2000, there were 10 wineries in Kentucky, and today there are over 70 registered and bonded wineries. While the state’s wine industry is growing, Bird acknowledged that opening a winery is always a challenge.

“It usually takes four or five years to harvest a crop, and farmers have to wait for a paycheck,” she said. “I decided that I was not going to compete against farmers and other wineries, but rather, work with them. The average vineyard is only two acres, and there isn’t a huge market for the wine, so I work in the vineyards gratis, and the farmers give me first choice on the fruit. It’s a win-win for everyone. I do all I can to support the local wine business.”

In a further effort to support the local economy, Bird hires people to help in her tasting room, including a guitarist who has been playing almost every Saturday and Sunday afternoon since the winery opened. She also employs local teenagers to lead tours at the winery and help with special events. “This gives the students something to put on their resumes, plus an opportunity to learn responsibility,” she said.

In the meantime, Bird keeps “plugging away” at her small business. Proceeds from the sale of wine go toward restoring the historic winery and supporting local farm families. Recently she began turning an old tobacco barn on the property into a bar, where visitors can drink beer (from an old claw-foot tub) and, if so inclined, smoke cigars or hang tobacco and roll their own. Bird has purchased a 1953 Pontiac to carry customers to and from the winery and the bar. She is calling the bar Bootlegger’s Barn, in a nod to the history of moonshine flowing along the Ohio River between Kentucky and Ohio.

As Bird looks to the future, she is hoping she can introduce more and more people to Kentucky’s wine country. Currently, she has five to six thousand visitors a year, many who bring pictures of family members that worked on the Baker Winery back in the mid-1800s. Bird expects that number to increase, as a new Bourbon Trail is being added to pass through Bracken County. By stopping at Baker-Bird Winery, and savoring a glass of Black Barrel Wine or Lightning Strike aged in bourbon, visitors on the Trail can enjoy a slice of Kentucky’s architectural past — and experience first-hand the crossroads of Kentucky’s storied wine and bourbon history.

Baker-Bird Winery is located at 4465 Augusta Chatham Rd., Augusta, KY. The winery is open for tastings and tours Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m.

For more information, visit
www.bakerbirdwinery.com

By Thomas J. Payette, Winemaking Consultant

Continued from Part 1 which ran in the
January – February 2018 issue of
The Grapevine Magazine.

Monthly Management

Whether full or empty, each barrel needs monthly attention. Try to store full and empty barrels at or as near 50 degrees F when possible.

When full: One will need to taste and check the free Sulfur Dioxide and pHs of these wines monthly at a minimum. After this check, additions can be made to the wines in the barrel and then they can be topped. Topping is one of the keys to keeping a barrel safe from bacteria spoilage. The wines must be of sound chemistry to make this a successful statement and the topping wines need to be “clean”. The author will often use wine from a tank that has been filtered and nearing bottling to know the bacteria load is greatly reduced from that vessel.

When empty: Once again we will need to visit each barrel monthly. In all cases the barrel will have been rinsed and sulfured prior. We should return to these same barrels and, retreat with Sulfur Dioxide by gas or wick (see above) to insure the barrels integrity will continue to be sound.

Where

Most work with empty barrels will happen outside on a crush pad or strung out in caves and warehouses. When possible, try to have as much space and ventilated air moving through the workspace if using liquid Sulfur dioxide or wicks/discs. When possible, the author prefers to unstack the barrels, remove the bungs, look inside the barrel with a flashlight and then smell the barrels at each visit.

If the barrels must stay in place, one can easily work with them also but some of the more critical reviews of sight and smell become more cumbersome.

Rain

At certain times, at certain winery locations, the author likes to use Mother Nature. It is not uncommon to plan a day’s barrel work around the weather. If the weather forecast is for rain the author finds advantages, with uncovered crush pad areas, to do a days barrel work, rinse the interior and then allow the barrels to remain on racks, bung down, in the rain to get a nice soaking cleaning on the exterior as well. This can also apply in conjunction to the swelling procedure above but with barrels full of water and bung upward. Please try this experimentally first on a small batch of barrels since some wood discoloration may take place and not be visually to ones liking.

Always clean the bung opening area and when needed one can cauterize / burn that area again. This process may be needed about every 5 years or so at the maximum and a special tool is needed for this process.

Tartrate Removal

Tartrate removal can be a nuisance for those that focus on it. In general it should not be a huge issue. Do note some winemakers care to cold stabilize their wines before placing in barrel for this reason. Most do not however. Also note that when one looks inside the barrel one will see more tartrates because they typically “fall out” and go to the bottom. In the case of sur lie wines in the barrel the yeast layer does a great job of protecting the bottom of the barrel from tartrate adhesion to the wood.

A high-pressure rinse may remove these tartrates effectively. A hot water rinse my help them “flake off” and dissolve more readily.

Some winemakers use a high pH (warm water helps here) soak followed by a light citric acid soak. This can be very effective in tartrate removal. Makes sure the soda ash, the high pH solute, and citric acid, the low pH solute, dissolve completely before adding any one of them barrel.

Some more European trained winemakers will insert a stainless steel chain and have the less stipend “summer help” roll the barrels with the chain inside to knock the tartrates free – then rinse and Sulfur. Be sure to devise a way to retrieve the chain from the barrel.

In most cases, however, the tartrate removal is not a huge focus for the majority of the winemakers due to practical applications.

Tools Needed

Many tools for barrel care may be purchased at winery supply stores, cooperage houses and other specialty suppliers specific to these type products. Research your needs and then contact these companies to see what they offer. In general, only a good barrel rinser, good to great water pressure (chlorine free) is needed and way to introduce the SO2 – wick or gas.

Glass head barrels: A great tool to be able to see inside the barrel when performing certain tasks from burning sulfur wicks, filling, rinsing, lees stirring etc. Watching fermentation and malo-lactic with these glass head barrels can be fascinating beyond the other features. Every cellar should have just one of these glass head barrels to better know what is happening inside their barrels with certain specific functions.

Humidity

Humidity is undoubtedly a factor when dealing with barrels. The author prefers a less humid cellar to make sure the vacuum needed inside the barrel is fully established on barrels with wine in them. If barrels are kept full and production practices to store few barrels empty for any length of time are employed, this can be the best way to use barrels to their fullest and best capacity. There is some “angel’s breath” evaporation loss but that is a part of the process. If a barrel is stored for less than three months empty most will have few to no issues with reswelling.

Spicing It Up!

Some winemakers prefer to cold stabilize their wines before placing them in barrels to prevent tartrate build up in the barrels. (Referenced above) This can be effective but most winemakers do not do this in large practice.

Burning a sulfur wick in a barrel (5-6 grams) does two things. It puts sulfur dioxide in the barrel as well as displaces oxygen with carbon dioxide. This practice may lend toward mimicking by the winemaker using a carbon dioxide flush on their barrels then using pure liquid sulfur dioxide, following. Many large wineries use liquid Sulfur Dioxide and this may apply to their needs best. Many large wineries also could make dry ice, on site, and this could be used as the Carbon Dioxide source. This may be the way of the future to help combat spoilage bacteria growth in barrels. This may well be the future established standard for proper barrel care.

Wrapping It Up

Tackling the barrel care issue is a trying one but actually an easy one. There is only one way to do it right. The way it works for your cellar. There are many off branches and combinations of what has been described above. Please take from this article anything you think may help your current process and refine, for the better, what will work best for your winery and wines. As can be seen these are some must do processes but most recommendations have some variation.

In all be diligent and respectful of the barrels in your cellar and they will provide many years of service to you, your cellar and your wines.

Other Helpful Tips

Alcohol is less dense than water or juice. It is not all too uncommon to fill a barrel with water to validate the barrel will not leak, only to find a barrel may develop a leak later on. These leaks can typically be fixed on sight of the winery with little effort.

Do not fill a barrel with wine you know to be bacterially unsound. This will only start the spread, further, of the unwanted bacteria.

Smelling the barrel is one of the best ways to acknowledge its condition and readiness to potentially help or harm your wines in the cellar.

Whether full or empty, each barrel normally requires some form of monthly maintenance.

Topping, on time, is critical and resulfuring, on time, is critical.

Lower storage temperatures (50 degrees F) can be a very useful tool and one more winemakers should try to strive to use.

Resist the temptation to store barrels outside. There are many wood boring insects that may take fancy to this easy target leaving the winemaker with leaky barrels. Small periods of time outside may be acceptable.

American oaks tend to need reswelling more than European woods. The author has noticed American oak may develop more ethyl acetate type aromas when stored empty due to a reaction of the wood, moisture and Sulfur dioxide. This is generally not a bacterially generated ethyl acetate aroma if sound procedures are followed and not a concern – just an observation winemakers may notice in their cellars and to be aware.

Uprights and ovals beyond the 600-liter capacity are beyond the scope of this article and care should be taken to establish contact with appropriate sources to secure proper methods of working with these wood vessels.

References:

Verbal discussion with Jacques Boissenot, Chris Johnson, Joachim Hollerith and Jacques Recht.

Many thanks to Mark Heinemann and all the Demptos Cooperage team for their help.

Short Course:

• Visit each barrel monthly.

• Use the basics of this article to establish your best procedure.

• Make this a part of your HACCP plan.

• Be timely and don’t ignore your barrels. Respect them.

• Cool temperatures aid you with full or empty barrels.