Cooperage- The art of Making Barrels at Oregon Barrel Works

Bending and Toasting barrels

2011-07-30T10:05:00.000-07:00

Cutting the Croze in a Tank

2011-07-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

Flipping the Oregon Oak tanks to cut the croze

2011-07-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

The Making of a Wooden Tank

2011-06-23T12:29:00.000-07:00

Oregon oak logs

Cutting the logs for the tank

Removing the sapwood

Planning the curve on the staves

Laying Out the Tank

Raising up the tank

Toasting the tank over a wood fire

Bending the tank

The OBW crew

Steamboat Pinot Noir Conference

2011-05-15T18:10:00.000-07:00

Registration for the Steamboat Pinot Noir Conference is now open. This is a great conference for pinot noir producers to taste and talk about the varietal and enjoy an excellent experience at the Steamboat Inn. Go to www.steamboatpinot.com to register.

2011-01-31T11:37:00.000-08:00

Who the hell is Rick DeFerrari and Oregon Barrel Works anyway?

It all started when I was working at a winery in the Northern Willamette Valley, less than a mile from where I grew up. There the seed was planted to make barrels. At first it was the idea of making barrels from Oregon oak. What a great match my passion for wine making and my formal education in forest engineering, and what a great match for Oregon wineries- Oregon wine in Oregon oak barrels.

At the time I was living a semi-transient life; working spring and summer in Alaska in the forestry field, coming home in the fall to work crush, and taking most of the winter off. In 1992 I decided to spend the winter traveling in Europe- you know, load your backpack, buy a Euro rail pass, see the sights. The plan was France, Germany, Italy, and then end up on some beach in the Greek isles drinking ouzo.

The harvest in 1992 was early and by the time I arrived home from Alaska in early September all of the pinot noir was picked and fermenting. By mid-October I was boarding a plane for Paris. Through some friends I had made arrangements to visit the Francois Freres cooperage in Burgundy.

The visit went well and talk soon turned to my idea of making barrels from Oregon oak. I was invited back the next day to accompany the log buyer on a trip to the Vosges region to procure some logs. The next week I was asked if I would like to work in the stave mill splitting French oak. From there I started working in the stave mill and then the cooperage. The Francois took my training very seriously. Not only were they adamant about teaching me each step in the barrel making process, but soon they were scheduling tastings for me to increase my knowledge about the interaction of wood and wine. The Greek isles would have to wait.

Log buying in the Vosges Forest of France 1992. I am on the right in the back

Running low on funds, I returned to Oregon in time for the harvest in 1993. I had worked alongside Michael Etzel for several harvests at Ponzi Vineyards. Michael was starting up Beaux Freres Winery and that year I worked for him and for Steve Doerner at Cristom Vineyards. I worked with Michael at Beaux Freres in the morning and and with Steve at Cristom in the afternoon and evening.

At the same time I started researching Oregon oak. I kept my research in a wooden apple box in the back seat of my 1978 International Scout. The Francois visited Oregon and I was able to sell them on the idea of building barrels from Oregon oak. In some ways I sold them the apple box in the back of my truck. I still have the apple box. I use it for a book shelf in my office, but sadly, the Scout is a different story.

The Scout, some of the first Oregon Oak logs and me at the barn in Newberg

This lead to Francois Freres D'Oregon, a partnership between the Francois and Rick DeFerrari, focusing on making staves from Oregon oak. I bought a used bandsaw, had a French style log splitter built, rented an old barn outside of Newberg and started buying Oregon oak logs. We were off an running.

Francois Freres D'Oregon was basically a stave mill. I would go to the forest to select trees, split the wood in the traditional French method and stack it for air-drying. The wood was then shipped to Demptos in Napa, a cooperage owned by the Francois family, where the barrels were built. I would go to Demptos to oversee the barrel construction. The barrels were branded Francois Freres D'Oregon and we were in charge of marketing the barrels. During this time the business grew from fifty barrels to over 1500 barrels.

Splitting an Oregon oak log as Jean Francois looks on

Splitting Oregon oak was challenging. Our average yields were around 20%. This left us a lot of wood that was unusable for barrels. The short lengths and random widths of the wood made it unsuitable for the normal markets like flooring, furniture or cabinet making. The natural outlet was barrel alternatives; toasted chips and inserts. The Francois were less than excited about the idea. Chips and inserts were strictly forbidden by law in France at this time (although many wineries used them). But potential income for a start-up business is a no match for tradition and pride.

We bought a used peanut roaster and a chipper and started making toasted Oregon oak chips for winemaking. My first load of toasted chips were dumped straight from the roaster into a plywood bin to cool. The plywood bin and the chips promptly caught on fire. There was definitely a learning curve, but soon barrel alternatives were bringing in much needed money.

The partnership with the Francois lasted form 1993 to 2000. My goal was to build barrels in Oregon and it was becoming clear that the Francois had a different idea. In 2000 I bought the Francois out of the business and created Oregon Barrel Works.

It felt like starting over. It was a one man show. I would go on the road selling chips and inserts, an then come home and make them. I often worked late in the night the night (actually, I guess it was technically morning) to meet production deadlines. All of the revenue was spent on more Oregon oak logs and all my spare time was devoted to making staves. The barrel stave inventory dropped to the same level produced in 1994, but I felt like I was on track to make barrels in Oregon.

In 2004 I was able to scratch up enough cash to buy a piece of industrial property, and I set out to build a building. How hard could it be? I am an engineer, after all, never mind that my degree is in forest engineering. I could be the general contractor. Why pay someone to do that?

The concrete contractor was more than two months late in finishing, which caused us to miss the opening the building contractor had. I was told it would be three months before the next opening. The building was a pre-fab steel building, sort of like a large erector set. I took a look at the plans and decided that my crew of two and I could build the building- no problem. I like to think we finished before the original contractor could have and under his cost, but I'm not sure if that's true. I do know that I can cross steel building erector and general contractor off my list of possible careers.

In 2005 I returned to France with two goals; find a jointer and learn to build wooden fermenters. Francois Freres sold me the jointer. And I worked at work at Taransaud, a cooperage in Cognac, building wooden tanks for the Hennessy distillery. One of the head coopers at Taransaud had plans of starting a small cooperage in his retirement. He had acquired all the necessary equipment, but as retirement grew closer he was rethinking his plan of starting a cooperage. Fishing was looking better to him than pounding hoops, so he sold me all of his equipment to build barrels.

The equipment arrived early in 2006. It was this year that I truly perfected what I like to call “drinkering”- a combination of drinking and tinkering. After my workday at Oregon Barrel Works I would have a beer (okay, maybe more than one) and work on rebuilding the equipment. In the fall of 2006 we made the first Oregon made Oregon oak barrels. Well, probably not the first, since there were cooperages in Oregon up until the 1940's. But at least the first in more than 50 years.

That year we were asked to re-toast some French barrels for Domaine Serene. The retoasted barrels showed well and in 2007 Domaine Serene, along with several other wineries, wanted us to make barrels using French oak. I was able to purchase three year air dried French staves- not an easy task. I created the company name Tonellerie DeFerrari for the French oak barrels made at our cooperage in Oregon.

Since 2007 Tonellerie DeFerrari and Oregon Barrels Works have increased production. We now offer barrels from six different French forest. We make barrel form 35 liters to 400 liters. This year we are going to build our first wooden fermenters from Oregon oak and we have some French ones in the works. We do repair work for wineries throughout the Pacific Northwest and warrantee repair for all the major cooperages. And we still make chips and inserts from both Oregon and French oak. I also make a few barrels of wine each year under the DeFerrari label. Of course, the wine is aged in barrels produced by Oregon Barrel Works and Tonellerie DeFerrari.

I have been lucky enough to visit France each year since 2005. The trips are a crazy mix of visiting wineries and cooperages, eating oysters in Paris, and spending time in the forests of France with our stave supplier. Last year I happened upon some more used barrel equipment and it is due to arrive in March. I sometimes wonder if I am running a cooperage or a home for wayward French coopering equipment.

As I start my 19^th year in the cooperage business I can truly said that I love what I do. Of course, there are challenges with owning a small business, but I have a talented and enthusiastic team at Oregon Barrel Works who share my vision of making the very best barrels.

Oregon Oak Air-Drying

2010-04-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

All of our wood for Oregon Oak barrels is air-dried for minimum of 36 months. The wood is stacked outdoors with space left between each stave. The rain along with mold, bacteria and yeast breakdown the tannins of the wood. This air-drying, really weather seasoning yields softer tannins in the wine. The air-drying also eliminates “green” wood flavors.

We have experimented with 18 month, 24 month and 36 month air-drying and have come to the conclusion that Oregon Oak needs at least 36 months. Talk to any one who tried our 18-month air-dried barrels and I think they will agree.

The down side to the extending air-drying, besides tying up a lot of capital, is that each year of season will result in lower yields. Another downside to 36 month air-drying is that we have to make sales projections three years out. Not only how many barrel but also what shape. Staves for Burgundy barrels are cut 90cm; Bordeaux barrels 100cm and 400 liter barrels are cut to 105cm.

Springtime is tank time

2010-04-12T15:49:00.000-07:00

Springtime is tank time.
So far for this spring we have eight wooden cuves to refurbish.
These are the first two.

2010-03-30T16:01:00.000-07:00

Large format barrels:

As we get ready for the up coming 2010 harvest I can help myself but to challenge the team of coopers here at Oregon Barrel Works (at least that is what I like to call it, they may have a different name for it). For years wineries have inquired about large format barrels, as well as fermentors (I will leave that one alone for now, maybe next year). Well 2010 is the year. Back in 2006 we cut a small amount of Oregon oak staves for 400 liter barrels. We also had our stave supplier in France do the same with French oak. So this year we will be offering both Oregon oak and French oak 400 liter Puncheons.

Oregon Oak staves for 400 liter barrels

It is not just easy as one would think:
o All the wood we use is three year air-dried, thus we have at least three years into the project before we can make barrels.
o The end-trim saw and the inside and outside planer need to be retooled to accommodate the longer lengths and lager diameter.
o The angles on the jointer set for the larger diameters.
o We need larger truss hoops the thick metal hoops we use to form the barrels.
o New larger toasting pots that keep the same height to diameter ratio.
o The crozer, the machine that cuts the chime, howell and chamfer need to be retooled and adjusted the larger size barrel.
o The rounding saw, the saw that cuts the heads, needs to be retooled and adjusted for the larger size barrels.
o New hoop steel flared for the larger diameter and longer in length
o Resetting the hoop press.
o Resetting the barrel sander.

I am sure I left something out, but the point being barrels are not a cookiecutter type project.

Jointing Oregon Oak for 400 liter barrels

Backing- End trim - Hollowing ("Dolage-Ecourtage-Evidage")

2009-08-14T09:48:00.000-07:00

Today we are working up the staves we received several weeks ago. For you Francophiles I have included the French term for each step in the process (but really you should get a life).
All of our equipment is designed to run random width staves and staves that have some curve in them. It is more important to follow the grain than to make straight staves.

At each step in the process the staves are graded and any stave not meeting our specification is rejected.

Backing (“Dolage”): Planning the exterior of the stave round to match the outside circumference of a barrel. Each Cooperage does things a little different. We chose to do this step first, so that any defects are more visible and, if possible, can be cut out in the end trimming. Some cooperages will do the end trimming as the first step.

End Trimming (“Ecourtage”): The staves are cut to the length of the barrel. All the trimmed off sections of the staves are saved and used in the fires for bending and toasting of the barrels.

Hollowing (“L’evidage”): Planning the interior of the stave round to match the inside circumference of a barrel. A section at each end of the stave is left un-planned. This is where the grove for the head will be cut. This area includes; the chamfer (“Chanfrein”) the angle cut from the end of the barrel, the croze (“Jable”) the grove the head will fit into and the howells (“Pas d asse”) a rounded out section from the end of the chamfer extending past the croze. More on this when get to that process.

Staves waiting for the Jointer, the next step.

French Oak Stave Wood

2009-08-10T06:26:00.000-07:00

French Oak Terroir

Received a shipment of wood from our French stave supplier last week. Our stave supplier keeps all of the forest separate for us. We make barrels from six different French forest Nevers, Bertranges, Vosges, Chatillon, Fontainebleau and Center of France. Each forest has it’s own “Terrior”; location, soils, aspects and micro-climate that produces slightly different flavor profiles for the barrels made form these forest.

Both Chatillon and Fontainebleau are new forest for us in 2009.

The Chatillon Forest is located in the Cote d’Or department near the town of Chatillon-sur-Seine between Troyes and Dijon. The oak trees in the Chatillon forest struggle due to the poor, rocky, limestone and chalk soils. Barrels from the Chatillon forest are traditionally used in burgundy. Typical characteristics are mineral, vanilla, spice and tobacco.

The Fontainebleau forest in located in the Seine et Marne department, southeast of Paris near the city of Fontainebleau. The oak trees grow tall and uniformly, in deep sandy, silt soils. Resulting in even, tight grain with little variation in color. Typical characteristics are coffee, licorice, spice and leather.

2009-07-15T12:02:00.001-07:00

Cooperage Alive in Oregon.

I found a disturbing article in the UK Telegraph about the last master cooper in England, Mr. Alastair Simms. You have to like that name.
Here is a link to view the article http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/4108266/Englands-only-master-cooper-predicts-demise-of-barrel-making.html

Mr. Simms states in the article “Coopering is not just a dying trade it’s already dead”
This may be true in England, but I am happy to say that, at least in Oregon, quite the contrary is true.
Although Oregon Barrel Works lacks a formal apprentice program, as did the cooperages I worked for in France, I have been coopering barrels for the past seventeen years, I have trained a cooper who has worked for me for the past eight years and I own a cooperage. Thus, in most programs this would qualify me for the title of Master Cooper.

I currently employ five coopers. One of which is Jorge Nieto who has completed his required four-and-half year apprenticeship and earned the tile of Journeyman Cooper. He is currently training our apprentice coopers. Upon his apprentice’s competition of their training Jorge will be awarded and elevated to the title of Master Cooper. Jorge has worked at Oregon Barrel Works for the past eight years. Some would say that he is the glue that holds it all together, but coopers don’t use glue.

Jorge burning the bung hole of some freshly toasted barrels

We have four Coopers working as apprentice. One has completed three years of the required four-and-half years, two are in the middle of their second year and the fourth one is a little over a year in the program. I am excited about all of these guys, we have a great bunch of coopers in training.

Oregon Barrel Works is unique in that unlike most modern cooperages we strongly believe in the art of the cooper. Yes, we do use modern equipment (this may depend on you definition of “modern” seeing that we have some equipment that dates back over 50 years) and yes this does make the job(s) easer. But every cooper that works for me can do, and is required to do, every job in the cooperage. They are not machine operators; they must know the whole process from start to finish.
So to Mr. Alastair Simms I say, “Go west young man”. Bring your hammer and hoopdriver; we light the fires at 6:30 am. And I am assuming that since you are English and work for a brewery you will join us for a pint at the end of the day, although we drink our beer cold.

2009-07-14T15:04:00.000-07:00

Welcome To Oregon Barrel Works and Rick DeFerrari Blog.

Here’s the Idea- A behind the scenes look at the production of barrels here at Oregon Barrel Works. First some background. Oregon Barrel Works is a small cooperage located in McMinnville, Oregon. We build barrels mainly for the wine industry using both French and Oregon oak. Our production is small, under 1000 barrels per year, and each barrel is handcrafted and tailor made for each winery.

Wine barrel being toasted

Visit our website http://www.oregonbarrelworks.com/

More later