Oak Wine BarrelsFounded in 1912, World Cooperage proudly crafts the highest quality oak wine barrels with the same commitment to quality and service as its founder T.W. Boswell established four generations ago.

Today, the Boswell family owns and operates six stave and heading mills, including mills in France and Bulgaria, and fifteen log buying yards spread throughout Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas and Kentucky. The cooperage division has two facilities, with the Lebanon, Missouri cooperage focusing on assembling and toasting American oak, French oak and Eastern European oak wine barrels shipped internationally.

Newest to our portfolio is the stylish TW Boswell line of wine barrels that impart subtle, old-world nuances to wines. The best value in the market, our World Cooperage wine barrels provide flavors of high intensity, toastiness and sweet upfront characters. Realizing that some wines can’t afford new oak barrels, we provide a range of alternative products made from the finest raw materials.

As established stave mill operators in the Midwest and France, our company has the unique ability to select only the slower grown, fine grain timber for its barrels. The cooler climates of the Midwest result in slower growing trees with finer grain. In general, a slower growing tree will have higher extractives.

We exclusively use white oak. The reason that white oak has evolved into being essentially the exclusive wood for cooperage, is because it meets the requirements of porosity, strength, resilience, workability, weight and character. Oak contains tyloses in the wood’s vessels that "plugs" the wood vessels and prevents porosity. The large thick rays help give oak extra toughness and bendability, but also make oak relatively dimensionally stable during dry shrinkage, wet swelling.

The species is also preferred for its flavor. After stave manufacturing, the staves dry in the open air, exposed to nature’s elements (sun, wind, rain), to remove any harsh flavors or elements from the oak. Seasoning in the open air also develops and releases spicy and sweet elements. We offer different drying regimes of 24, 30 and 36-months and maintain large inventories of properly seasoned oak to meet world demand. Unlike other cooperages, our wood age is audited and verified by the accounting firm of Ernst & Young.

World Cooperage is proud of the wine barrel it crafts and the special role it plays in high quality wines. Our toasted wine barrels are more than just containers for storage. Barrels impart color, aroma and flavors (oak, vanillin, clove, cinnamon, chocolate, nutmeg, etc.).

Barrels also facilitate a breathing process between the outside environment (air) and the wine and spirits, causing alcohol and water to evaporate through the staves, concentrating the wine. It’s the breathing process that helps integrate the beverage and that is partially responsible for the harmony of the wine.

Our commitment to bring the best barrel to the industry continues as we work with world renowned winemakers and research specialists, such as leading oak flavoring expert Dr. James Swan of Scotland. Recognized as one of the most progressive and innovative cooperages, currently we have over 1000 wine barrels involved in experiments.

World Cooperage also has many international interests including a worldwide sales force. International locations include sales offices and warehouses in Napa, Santiago, Bordeaux, Rioja and Adelaide. Local agents are located in New Zealand, South Africa and certain European countries.

Through four generations, World Cooperage continues to turn out premium quality products by being true to the founder’s motto: "We must always give our customers the best quality products at the lowest possible price." Total commitment to quality and service has made our company the largest cooperage in the world, thanks to the unfailing support of our satisfied customers.