As a winemaker, French oak is king when it comes to creating finessed, balanced, age-worthy wines. Your top-tier wines wouldn’t be the same without it. The problem is French oak barrels are expensive. And prices keep climbing.
Wine Barrel prices have been increasing 2.5 to 4 percent each year for the last few years. Everyone is feeling it. The bad news is, it’s not going to get better any time soon – as in, not for the next 10 to 15 years.
What are winemakers to do? Unless your barrel budget is going to increase at the same pace, you’ll need to find some workarounds. My mission is to support winemakers in making the best wine possible, but I know you’re also running a business. So I’ve come up with seven ways to save money on French oak barrels while keeping your wine quality high.
Why are prices increasing so much?
Demand has been growing and available oak has been diminishing. A large portion of the oldest oaks, the big and mature ones used to make high-quality wine barrels, have been cut down in the last several years in order to regenerate the forests. Younger oaks need to mature. The forest needs time to recover.
Because demand has been outpacing supply, wood buyers have to pay top dollar to get big barrel-quality trees. From March 2010 to March 2018, pricing at the ONF (National Forests Office) wood auctions has gone up 88 percent, with an average inflation rate of 11 percent per year between 2013 and 2018, according to Oenowood International who recently presented a report on this. However, prices of barrels being sold out of France have only gone up 25 to 30 percent during this time.
Oak makes up about 50 percent of a barrel’s cost prior to shipping to the U.S., so barrel prices should be increasing 5 to 8 percent each year. But actually, they’ve only been increasing 2.5 to 4 percent per year, which means cooperages have been absorbing some of the extra costs. The question is, how long is that sustainable?
The good news (finally!) is that French forests have more oak trees growing than ever before, thanks to the country’s sustainability efforts. Demand is finally stable, as is barrel production. We just need to wait it out. So let’s make sure you’re prepared…
7 WAYS TO SAVE MONEY ON FRENCH OAK BARRELS
Here are some ideas that will help save money on your new barrels and maintain the same level of quality your customers expect:
1) Buy some of your barrels from cooperages outside of France
The heart of the cooperage industry is in France, and it’s romantic, but it’s not the only country that has access to high-quality French oak. Countries along the borders or companies with subsidiaries in France can buy wood that’s from Center of France and other well-known areas.
In France, business costs, particularly taxes, are very high, while in bordering countries, such as Spain, these costs are much lower. If oak represents 50 percent of the cost of the barrel in France, there can be a lot of savings with the other half of the expenses. You could see savings of 100 euros per barrel or more.
2) Take advantage of volume discounts
This might be obvious with the larger cooperages, but a little-known fact is that just because the smaller cooperages don’t advertise volume breaks on their price lists doesn’t mean they don’t offer them. You might need to ask.
3) Agree to early delivery of your barrels
Cooperages benefit greatly from starting production earlier in the year, so they offer early-delivery discounts to encourage wineries to take delivery in April and May. This might not be an option with small cooperages who are only sending a few containers each year, but it can save a lot with the larger cooperages.
4) Incorporate some non-oak vessels that allow similar oxygen flow to barrels
If well maintained, vessels such as amphoras won’t need to be replaced, ever. What you lose in oak flavor you might gain in complexity in other areas, such as showing more varietal character and terroir.
Getting the right level of micro-oxygenation is key for your wine to evolve. Be sure to ask about porosity and oxygen transfer rates for any vessel before you buy so you know how much oxygen your wine will be getting.
5) When trying out a new type of barrel, gather as much data as possible about flavor and tannin profiles
Unless you’re working with a wine for the first time, you know what your wine needs. Rather than waste money and time with lengthy trials, learn as much as you can about the barrels upfront.
Some cooperages run chemical and/or sensory analyses of wines in their barrels to identify specific aromatic compounds so you know what to expect. Some test for tannins. Any data you get can help fast-track to what works best with your wines.
6) Learn more about barrel chemistry
It’s a never-ending task to learn the science behind barrels. I get it. And you have limited time. But do not underestimate how much this information can help you make better buying decisions and fewer, potentially costly, mistakes.
Study up on things like oxygen transfer rates, tannin chemistry and the details of various processes, such as bending, toasting and seasoning. These are the things that will best help you understand the impact your barrels are having on your wine.
7) Deeper toasting
Water bending, steam bending and long toasting – these are all processes that allow for a deeper penetration of toast into the staves. I’ve heard from a few cooperages that a deeper toast extends the useful life of a barrel (I'm researching the various theories - stay tuned for a future blog post).
TBD...
A theory I’ve been exploring is that the level of phenolics can affect how much impact you are getting from your barrel. I’ve seen wine with high phenolics coat the inside of a glass bottle. These are actually the free anthocyanins doing the coating. The questions are:
- Are they coating the inside of a barrel?
- If so, do they block any of the barrel flavors and aromas from entering the wine?
- If you put your wine in barrel when phenolics are lower, will you get more impact from each barrel and, therefore, need to buy fewer barrels?
I’ll keep you posted on that one!
As always, I’m here to help you make the best wine possible, and if saving you money on your new French oak barrels gets you there, I’ve done my job. Whether you start making different barrel choices or change part of your winemaking process, these workarounds will help you weather the upcoming price increases and keep quality high.
