We don’t often get to share the process before a barrel is made – when it’s just an idea. Today, we are taking a step back and telling the story of how a World Cooperage barrel concept comes into being. How each one of our 100+ profiles started as a thought and finished as a barrel.
The objective is to determine if the new Barrel Profiling technology improves consistency and provides flavor differences between four different toasting regimes.
Five French oak profiles that performed well with other varietals and had specific characteristics to complement Pinot noir wines were selected.
In the past, barrel evaluation was not always conducted scientifically. This research takes barrel evaluation to the next level by tying sensory to oak chemistry, a method validated through sensory trials with active production winemakers (not students or panelists). Winemakers should use this sensory method as a guide to do their own barrel evaluations in-house.
Four new barrel profiles were developed with the aim of producing toastier versions of well established European style barrels. These include water bent as well as conventional fire toasted barrels.
Different cooperage practices exist. In this trial stave bending techniques were compared and contrasted.
The objective is to compare new, custom profiles and commercial profiles and to create a special toasting profile for Rodney Strong Pinot noir wines.
Custom Barrel ProfilingBeaulieu VineyardObjectiveThe objective is to determine if the designed, custom profiles meet expectations for Beaulieu Vineyard Chardonnay.SynopsisThree custom, or special, profile toasting regimes were coopered and used to barrel-ferment and age Chardonnay wine (see process curves below). These were compared with three existing products: the World Cooperage Traditional, the T.W. Boswell Côte d’Or, and the T.W. Boswell Legacy. …
The objective of this experiment was to compare different American oak profiles in the same wine. Every profile used the same wood lot and seasoning time, was air dried in the same yard, and was processed under similar conditions.
