Barrel assembly at Tonnellerie Cadus in Burgundy

During our cellar master Florent's recent trip to his native France, he visited the "Tonnellerie Cadus" in Burgundy, one of the barrel suppliers for Van Duzer Vineyards in the Willamette Valley, Oregon (http://www.vanduzer.com). Gilles Deschamps (sales) gave him a tour and Laurent, a cooper master, showed him how to assemble a barrel. As you can see in this video, Laurent has mastered the skill of assembling the staves (skinny oak boards) together and he is able to assemble a barrel very quickly, but Flo assures us it is not that simple. From raw wood to barrel, they have to dry the oak for 30 to 36 months, then shape it to stave-form and finally "toast" the barrel which consists of placing the open barrel over a controlled hot fire for a specific amount of time, which allows the wood to diffuse the complex compounds which are then imparted into the wine during aging (mostly vanilla, oak/smoky flavors and tannins).