It is a type of cask, or cask, made of wood, of variable shape and capacity depending on the region. It allows the aging of wine.
History of the barrel: The amphora was, in antiquity, the container most used for the transport of basic products: wine, olive oil, beer (zythum and zythogala) and fish sauces (garum type) .
The hot bending of wood was known very early to the Celts, Phoenicians and Egyptians, especially in the manufacture of boats.
Herodotus mentions in the XNUMXth century BC a wine trade by sea, between Armenia and Mesopotamia, using barrels made of palm wood. Palm is a difficult wood to bend, so different woods are tested to make barrels. The barrel is often considered as a Gallic invention which was used in particular to preserve beer and to transport liquids such as drinking water. Nevertheless, this Gallic invention is attributed by mistake by Pliny the Elder, the very first barrels being made in the region of the Rhaetians (the current Grisons in Switzerland) that Pliny confuses with the Gauls, they are then designated under the term "cupa". .
The oldest iconographic traces of barrels actually come from Etruria in the XNUMXth century BC, the hypothesis of Celtic paternity is also evoked. Julius Caesar mentions its use during a siege in his Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, the Roman conquest spreading the Gallic barrel in the Roman Empire. The Gauls then perfected its manufacturing technique and exported the know-how of major cooperage centres, mainly using the barrel (at first mainly in conifers) as re-use in casing of liquids, salting of fish.
The progressive substitution of the barrel (lighter, rollable or transportable on the back of an animal) for amphorae (heavy, fragile, not very stackable) spreads in the northern part of the Roman Empire from the XNUMXnd century onwards where it is mainly used for the conservation and transport of wine which had until then been done in Greek amphorae. Its use became widespread from the XNUMXrd century. It is a recognition of this utilitarian object and a revolution for the wine market of Antiquity, probably even a factor in the development of the wine market.
Often made of wood Oak, the barrels can also be in chestnut and acacia. The drill is a steel point that is used to pierce the wood to taste the wine during aging; the falsetto – or pits – is a wooden peg (often in hazel) which is used to fill in the hole of the drill. Finally, the cinnamon is a wooden tap, attached to the barrel to allow the flow of wine; it is called "chantepleure" in Anjou and Burgundy.
The first corporations of Gallo-Roman boatmen used them along the navigable rivers aboard heavy boats, because they were more manageable than the fragile Roman amphoras, and gave less flavor than skins of sheep or cattle.
Its diffusion is done throughout the Middle Ages, from north to south of Europe, through rivers, seas and oceans, ports, roads, fairs, regional or international markets ( Champagne fairs). It accompanied the rise of the first major Italian, Flemish, German (La Hanse), English (Bristol) or French (La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Nantes) trading cities, then spread to other continents, especially from the Great Discoveries. and the acceleration of globalization, conquest and transatlantic trade.
Around 1650, this container was associated with a famous experiment: the barrel burst. It allowed to write the Principle of Pascal on the mechanics of the fluids.
Inherited from the old medieval measurements, a great disparity joined to an overlapping of volumes under different denominations was not abolished during the Revolution. It lasted until the middle of the 6th century. Paris wine merchants, through their newly created weekly, Le Journal de Bercy et de l'Entrepôt. Le Moniteur Vinicole, launched a petition addressed to Napoleon III, which was published on October 1856, 1. In the name of the main owners and merchants of France, they asked the Emperor for “the unity of the measurements for the gauging of wines” and the application of the metric system to containers whose volumes varied "from one wine region to another and often in the same department". The petitioners explained that they considered themselves frustrated, each year, by approximately 000 hectoliters and urged the application of the texts of the laws of 000, 1793 and 1812.
During the First World War, from October 1914, the Intendance in order to improve the life of the soldiers in the trenches added a ration of wine to the ordinary of the troops. Every soldier received a quarter of wine daily. This ration was recognized as insufficient and doubled by Parliament in January 1916. This half-liter was increased from January 1918, and the ration rose to three-quarters of a liter per day. This shows the considerable importance that the barrel took for the transport of wine to the front.
But “if the wine is not lacking, on the other hand the barrels are lacking in the wine. Since the beginning of hostilities, the cooperage no longer manufactures, and on the other hand the needs that it must satisfy have constantly grown… If only all returned to their starting point! Many, alas! Once empty, get lost on the way back; many others return, glorious war wounded, with broken staves, expensive bricks... Remedies have been sought: for lack of oak wood, we have had recourse to chestnut wood, which will wear out more quickly. Despite all these palliatives, the Intendance uttered a cry of alarm: “If you want wine, take care of the barrels”, she cried desperately”.
We recommend aging in barrels of many red wines (Pauillac or Chianti Classico for example) or whites (Burgundy or American Chardonnay for example), certain fortified wines or spirits known worldwide (sherry, sherries, whiskeys, cognacs, armagnac, rums, calvados) and certain beers (lambic, kriek, faro, red beer). This characteristic is also used to make balsamic vinegar in Italy.
Until the middle of the XNUMXth century, barrels were the most practical mode of packing for transport or storage, although not the most economical. All kinds of bulk goods, from nails to gold coins, were stored there. Bags and crates were cheaper, but they weren't as sturdy, and they were harder to handle for equal weight. Indeed, a barrel obviously rolls very well like a cylinder, but if it is upright, any skilful maneuver manages to move it effortlessly by rolling it inclined, balanced on its edge. Thus, skill contests used to take place in the halls where delivery men had to run with a barrel. Barrels gradually lost their importance during the XNUMXth century, due to the advent of palletization and containerization of the supply chain.
At the end of the XNUMXth century, steel sheet barrels are still used for the storage and transport of many liquids, such as oil, petroleum and hazardous waste. Draft beer for bars is always delivered in metal barrels, either welded aluminum (two parts stamped or spun metal), or in three parts crimped like some tin cans.
At the beginning of the 1980s, a fashion for the taste of wood created a very strong demand for woody wines. Many producing regions have created wooden barrel cellars to supply the market. Today, the market has found a certain balance between oaked and non-oaked wines.
Nowadays, the entonnage has remained in the wine vocabulary, it concerns the action of filling a barrel with wine, but can also be extended to that of vats, or tank trucks and their trailers.
Many vineyards (France, United States, Chile, Italy, Spain, Argentina, etc.) put their wine in barrels for vinification, or for ageing. This practice is costly because of the price of the barrel, and because of the absorption of the wine by the wood of the barrel and evaporation.
Manufacture of the barrel: Entirely manual manufacturing is only found today in craftsmanship, nowadays the profession of cooper is still practiced but many machines assist it, in particular for heavy and tedious work (planing, tightening, etc.). Repairs still have to be done manually today.
Their manufacture requires tree trunks, generally oak, in the state of balls which are split into quarters. These are cut into staves. Hot bent; they form the staves. These are dug with a groove called jable in which the bottoms called counters and chanteaux will fit. Circles, made of wood or strip, hold the barrel which can be moved by rolling or swinging.
Its composition and method of production, in particular the toasting, have a great influence on the taste of the wine that will be aged there.
The finished barrel, empty, has a weight close to 45 kg, for a size of about 90 centimeters long and a diameter of 60 to 70 centimeters.
Barrel capacity: The history and geography of the wine-growing regions have given rise to a great diversity of capacities. The capacities thus vary according to the use, from a few tens to several hundreds of liters. However, these volumes are standardized within the regions themselves, but there are different denominations and volume variations from one region to another.
The capacities most commonly used today are 228 liters for barrels of Burgundy origin, and 225 liters for barrels of Bordeaux origin.
The barrel is used as a unit of financial transaction, thanks to the regularity of its manufacture. When it is in use, it takes the name of "piece" in Burgundy.
Other denominations:
– Barrel: A barrel (from Occitan Gascon cask), is distinguished from the barrel by its lighter construction and its lifespan of a few years.
In addition to oenological use, it can be used to age wine, to store, preserve and ship liquids (beers, oils, spirits) and solid goods (cod, sugar, etc.).
– Barrel: A barrel is a small barrel.
– Barrel: A barrel is a barrel of 30 to 350 l.
– Room: A room is a wine container used primarily for the conservation and aging of wine, it takes this name in general when it is full only.
– Barrel: A barrel is a small barrel of variable capacity depending on its destination, used for the transport and storage of liquids, food or dry matter (definition of the CNRTL); it can also be cardboard packaging (for detergents, for example); in metrology, it is the unit of volume used for oil.
– Lightning: A lightning is a large capacity barrel, ranging from a few hundred to several thousand liters.
In France, barrels break down as follows:
– in Alsace, a 1000 liter barrel (for storing and selling wine) and a 114 liter palm (for shipping);
– in Beaujolais, the 216-litre piece, the feuillette (half piece) and the quartaut (quarter piece);
– in Bordeaux, the barrel (the most common barrel, 225 liters) and the tonneau (900 liters, or 96 cases of 12 bottles), as well as the half-barrel, or feuillette, and the quartaut (quarter of a barrel) ;
– in Burgundy, the 228-litre piece (24 cases of 12 bottles), the queue (approx. 456 litres), the feuillette (half-piece) and the quartaut (quarter-piece);
– in Chablis, the 132-litre sheet;
– in Champagne, the 216-litre tail and the half-tail;
– in Anjou, Saumurois and Vouvray, 220 to 225 liters each;
– in the Mâconnais, the 215-litre piece;
– in the South, the demi-muid from 600 to 700 litres.
In other countries, the pipe is mainly used (418 liters in Madeira, 522 liters in Porto and Tarragona); the rum puncheon, of very variable capacity; the buts of about 490 liters, for sherry and Scotch whisky; the bar of about 182 liters, for American whisky.
Food Writer Quote Regis Carisey "This wine was in the same barrel for a long time".
Related Articles:
Complete list of different wine containers
Keg
cask
See also: Rolls under Mouth slang.