History and Typology of Regional Barrels

While the Burgundian cask (also known as the pièce bourguignonne) and the Bordeaux barrel have become the reference containers in modern cooperage, this has not always been the case. Historically, there were numerous wine barrels whose capacities varied significantly depending on the region. Moreover, it was quite common for « barrels bearing the same name [to] neither have[]the same dimensions nor capacity” » d’une across provinces, For example, the muid had a capacity of 510 liters in Montpellier, 460 liters in Languedoc, 297 liters in Cahors or Burgundy, and 268 liters in Paris.

The names of barrels corresponded to the units of volume measurement under the Ancien Régime, with the Paris pint (pinte de Paris, 0.9313 liters) serving as the official base unit for liquids. For instance: a quartaut equaled 72 Paris pints, a feuillette contained 144 Paris pints (two quartauts), a muid held 288 Paris pints (approximately 268 liters), a queue was equivalent to 432 Paris pints, a tonneau reached 864 Paris pints…

However, as we will explore in this series, barrel capacities were not uniform across the provinces of the kingdom. InLa tonnellerie à la portée de tous (1921), André Renard notes that even the adoption of the metric system during the French Revolution failed to standardize barrel sizes nationwide: « When France adopted the metric system, an attempt was made to introduce the same uniformity in barrel construction as in other measuring utensils. Barrels were to have fixed and uniform dimensions, with their capacity marked on one of their heads. Their internal length was conventionally divided into 21 equal parts. The internal diameter of the bulge was to contain 18 parts, and the internal diameter of the head was to contain 16. The attempt was unsuccessful, and cooperage never adhered to immutable rules for barrel construction. »

Although coopers did not align their production with the metric system, they successfully established two regional standards on a global scale: the Burgundian cask and the Bordeaux barrel. This achievement is due to their centuries-old expertise, the prestige of the Burgundy and Bordeaux vineyards, and above all, the exceptional quality of French oak, which has made France the global benchmark for cooperage.

The diverse local barrels with varying volumes and dimensions are now part of the history and folklore of the cooperage trade, reflecting its rich tradition.

*Pierre Portet (La mesure de Paris) : « While the pint and the setier—standard measuring containers—remained relatively stable in capacity from 1320 to the end of the Ancien Régime, the muid (a counting unit) experienced continuous growth during the same period, increasing from 127 to 268 liters. »

**The Bordeaux barrel (tonneau de Bordeaux) has a capacity of 900 liters, equivalent to four Bordeaux barriques of 225 liters each. Each Bordeaux barrique holds the equivalent of 300 bottles of 0.75 liters.

Image: Barrels produced at the La Grange cooperage (225L, 228L, 300L, 500L, Phi barrel, and demonstration quartauts) © D.R.