But not just any barrel — a foudre. A foudre is a massive wooden vat that impacts and preserves the overall taste of the wine. Making a foudre starts with French oak, a tightly grained wood that ...

French oak barrels cost more than $1,000 and certainly raise the prices of wine. Yet they are necessary to create a complex wine. Top producers in Bordeaux and California use oak judiciously and ...

Walk into any winery on planet Earth and you’re sure to run into a barrel or two. Most commonly, these barrels are barriques, ...

A winemaker has a lot of tools at his or her disposal to make something good out of the crushed grapes, but there is probably nothing as influential as the vessel they use. Stainless steel or ...