Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Oak Barrels
Kent is the winemaker of Green Truck Cellars, a small Pinot producer in Napa Valley. And when I say small, I’m talking 400-500 cases small. Earlier this year he traveled to France on a journey to discover more about the barrels he was using; how they were made, how the wood was selected and harvested, how the craft of cooperage is performed, and finally to visit and see for himself some of the great vineyards of Burgundy.
On his Pinot log is a series of posts on French Oak barrels I desperately wish I had written (or, more accurately, that I wish I’d been in a position to write). The storytelling is very fine, and the details and the vagaries of NTBois cooperage in particular, and French cooperage in general are so good that if you are at all interested in Pinot and it’s birthplace, Burgundy, there is hardly any better reading to be found.
You’ll have to scroll down to read the relevant posts since the blog doesn’t allow for permalinking (switch to WordPress Kent). Look for the entry entitled “06.16.06 | Bullet and Barrels“.
Great stuff.
