The mystery of the barrel begins with Mother Nature. The story starts in the forest where majestic trees in prestigious regions provide the ideal wood.

Powerful centenarian oaks from planted forests yield wood with perfect grain and golden colours, which slowly bring out the very best of a wine's aromatic potential.

The barrel wood produced from these oaks dries in the open air for as long as necessary to become solid and resistant while maintaining its suppleness and capacity to withstand the heating and toasting processes.

And it is precisely here that the cooper's skills, handed down from generation to generation, come in to play.

First of all the barrel wood is cut into stave lengths, these are then planed on the outside and slightly hollowed on the inside and tapered at each end in order to enable assembly into the rounded barrel shape.

The staves are measured and sorted to define their position in the barrel.

The next phase is ‘raising' the barrel for which the staves are positioned upright with wider and narrower staves placed alternately to ensure optimal balance, held in place by a metal hoop which serves as a jig.

Then come the vital and spectacular steps of ‘heating' and ‘toasting': first of all the staves are heated by fire, steam or boiling water in order to help force them into the curved shape of the barrel.

Toasting fixes the shape of the staves once and for all and the heat from this unlocks the aromatic compounds from the oak.

The cooper's art involves giving the barrel the aromatic qualities required by the oenologist, which are essential factors in nurturing a wine's physical and taste characteristics: spices, vanilla, toasted bread, hazelnut...

After this process, the cooper fits the heads of the barrel, removes the assembly hoops and replaces them with the final metal hoops after having planed and sanded the outside of the barrel.

Before delivery, the barrel is tested for impermeability.

The barrel is now ready for its next role, that of being filled with wine which will gently exchange with the wood, becoming enriched with its tannins while being slowly oxygenated through the barrel walls.