Barrels.

WHITE WINE BARRELS

Allary
Late harvest

For late harvest wines (white). Creamy mouthfeel and a focus on tropical fruits, with subtle hints of butterscotch and French vanilla in the background. Exotic but not overpowering.


Barrel Associates-American Water Bent
Chardonnay

Vanilla bean saut»ed in creamy butter and lightly sprinkled with cinnamon and brown sugar. This barrel gives a perception of roundness to the front palate and appears to intensify the finish.


Barrel Builders Budipesti
Chardonnay, Viognier

Creamy vanilla but also very floral; the barrel adds intensity and roundness to the mid-palate, with just a touch of nutmeg and brown sugar. The Budipesti barrel integrates very nicely with the wine and seems to have the richness of American and the finesse of French while never overpowering the fruit of the wine.


Bernard
Chardonnay, Marsanne, Roussane, Viognier

Adds layers of sweet honey and creamy butterscotch without overpowering the fruit. We use this barrel to add depth to the wine.


Berthomieu
Chardonnay, Late Harvest Viognier, Marsanne, Roussane, Viognier

Elegant and very subtle. This barrel seems to create richness and depth while producing a feeling of sweetness and rounding out any rough edges. Highlights the floral components of the wine.


Billon
Chardonnay, Marsanne, Roussane, Viognier

Spiced apple pie filling in a cinnamon crust pie shell. Rich and creamy with hints of brown sugar and clove. Produces a wine full of aromatics and very intense on the palate.


Cadus
Chardonnay

Shows off the fruit aspect of the wine like a stereo system amplifier. Vibrant and intensely rich, complex. Adds roundness and focuses the mid-palate.


Damy
All whites

Very soft and floral. Never pushes too hard and always in the background. Hints of vanilla and cinnamon in the mouth, but the accent is always on the fruit.


Dargaud/Jaegle
All whites

Apple and spice! Brings intensity and roundness to the palate that has to be tasted to be understood. One of our favorite producers for the white wine program.


Dargaud/Jaegle Marcel Cadet
Chardonnay, Marsanne, Roussane

Subtle hints of cinnamon and apple spice. Highlights the tropical fruit aspect of all white wines. Intense mid-palate and finish on all whites. Even at heavy toast levels this barrel never overpowers.


Demptos American
All whites

Lemon custard with hints of nutmeg and vanilla beans weave in and out of the white wine, both in the aromatics and palate.


Doreau
Chardonnay

Exotic in its combination of smoky nuts, caramel and butterscotch aromas and flavors that seem to highlight the darker aromatics and flavors of Chardonnay. Very rich and creamy, and works well as a blending tool to add a fleshy component to the wine.


Francois Freres
Chardonnay

Smoky, rich creamy flavors. The barrel integrates well with the wine but also lends itself to being very powerful; the attention grabber of the program.


Gillet
Chardonnay, Late Harvest Viognier, Marsanne, Roussane

A behind-the-scenes type of barrel. Very elegant and shy in its extraction of flavors, even when heavily toasted. Sweet, floral and very intriguing. Gillet barrels also help to create fuller mouthfeel while staying elegant and balanced. A very pure fruit barrel.


Lafitte American
Chardonnay

Lafitte is now Vicard American.


Meyrieux
Chardonnay, Marsanne, Roussane

Made especially for Condrieu (Viognier) but goes perfectly with other white wines. Soft and delicate, but subtle complexities that are intriguing and enticing. Integration of silky cinnamon and clove allows the wine to show its elegant side. Only 2,000 barrels made a yearÛmost cooperage houses make 50 barrels a day!


Meyrieux Martin
Chardonnay, Marsanne, Viognier

Produced by the apprentice from the Meyrieux cooperage but a bit more subdued than Meyrieux. Highlights the mid-palate in whites and amplifies the tropical fruits in Viognier, honey and almonds in Marsanne and citrus notes in Chardonnay.


Nadali» American Virginia
Chardonnay, Viognier

The very tight grain from Virginia adds the finesse of a French barrel, but with all the creamy vanilla and coconut for which American oak is known.


Radoux Appalachian American
Chardonnay, Viognier

Emphasis on vanilla and spice, with additional richness to the aromatics. This barrel adds structure and roundness to the mouthfeel.


Rousseau
All whites

Rich, creamy components that integrate well with the fruit and add a hint of white chocolate sweetness. Amplifies the tropical fruit flavors of all the whites.


Seguin Moreau American
All whites

Vanilla! Vanilla! Vanilla! And just a hint of coconut and clove. A barrel that can be a combination of power on the aromatics and finesse on the palate. The "Jackie O" of American cooperage.


Seguin Moreau Champagne
Chardonnay, Viognier

205 liters instead of the normal 225-liter barrel. This barrel allows a lot more lees contact to occur, thus resulting in a richer and creamier wine. Coconut, vanilla bean and English cream are found in both the aromatics and palate.


Seguin Moreau Selection Vendages Tardives
Late harvest

The focus is bright fruit. Enhances the tropical fruit flavors and aromatics of the whites. Adds depth and fleshiness to the palate.


Seguin Moreau Montrachet
Chardonnay

Big rich and fat. Layers upon layers of complexities are achieved from these barrels. Very tight grain, thus it takes at least nine months to strut their stuff. Elegance!


Sirugue
All whites

Pure fruit expressions with subtle smoky vanillin and "bread fresh from the oven" aromas. This barrel accentuates all areas of the palate without becoming overbearing and intrusive. Highlights tropical and lemon components of white wines.


Trieul
Chardonnay

This barrel is overpowering and very hard initially, but with six months of aging and consistent lees stirring, the wine and barrel begin to integrate and the wine becomes very complex. This is not a stand-alone barrel when using it with Chardonnay but as a blending component, it will produce a wine of terrific complexity.


Vicard American
Chardonnay

American wood air dried in France and coopered in France. Overpowering by itself, but as a component it is perfect. A very Rubenesque barrel with flavors and aromatics of butterscotch, toasted nuts and vanilla beans. Really pushes the flavors of the wine into the tropical fruit zone.


World Cooperage Cote d'Or
Chardonnay, Marsanne, Roussanne

Toasted almond and hints of creamy coconut are both present in aromatics and flavors with just a touch of hazelnut in the flavor. Elegant and very distinct in its presence. Multi-layered and very much a mid-palate barrel.

Red Barrels
Barrel History