From the Forest to the Wood Yard

“Imagine that up to 300 years pass between the growth of a young oak tree, the drying, aging, and the moment when we finally taste a vintage aged in one of its barrels!”

Time is a factor we cannot control. We simply work with it. It’s the same for cooperage. There are crucial steps to follow, a virtuous cycle that will lead to selecting the finest oaks to supply the barrel-making workshops with premium-quality staves.

The oaks harvested from the forest are at least 150 to 180 years old. The oaks bought by wood buyers, either standing or along roadsides, are then received at the log yards of the cooperages (Maison Charlois – Nièvre Merrain – Ateliers du Chêne), where they are sorted and marked every 1m or 1.20m. On average, from a log selected for making staves, up to seven billets can be marked. The logs are then taken to the cooperage, where they are cut into billets, which are then split into quarters.

The Crucial Split

In the stave manufacturing process, the splitting step is crucial. The billets are split into several quarters following the wood grain. This will ensure the future barrel hoops’ tightness. The resulting quarters are then sawed lengthwise and always in the direction of the wood grain, according to the desired thicknesses for the future staves (22, 27, 32, or 42 mm). The stave pieces are then stripped of bark, sapwood, and heartwood, retaining only the highest quality part—this is the process called “straightening.” The straight pieces have a width ranging from 4 to 12.5 cm for those used to form the body of the barrel, and 5 cm for those used to make the ends.

Inspection, Shortening, and Stacking

Each piece of stave is individually inspected. Those with defects, such as knots, cracks, or broken grain, are marked with red chalk and then “shortened.” This specific operation involves removing the defective parts by cutting the staves to the appropriate lengths (body of the barrel: 110, 105, 95, or 90 cm – ends: from 40 to 80 cm – oak shingles: 33 cm). They are then sorted by length before being stacked on pallets (0.5 m³) with spaces between them to allow air circulation. The staves are then stored in wood yards for a minimum of 20 to 24 months to mature naturally in the open air.

Photographs © Christophe Deschanel