What Can't I Find a Wine Barrel to Use as a Flower Pot?

Every couple of weeks, our office gets a call from someone looking for a wine barrel, either to use as a decorative complement to a family room or to cut in half and use as a planter for a bunch of petunias. We most almost always have to disappoint them.

When the wine industry first emerged in the 1970s in Ohio, barrels used in our cellars usually came from Kentucky or Tennessee where the whiskey producers used 50 gallon, charcoal-charred barrels for one-time use in spirits production. The barrels were loaded onto trucks [sometimes after the charcoal was scraped] and shipped north to be used for our native [Concord/Catawba] wines. [ I actually remember one winery wanted to get rid of excess charcoal aromas and had partially filled a barrel with water. When the liquid was dumped, the drain smelled much like Johnny Walker.] The barrels were then used for a couple of harvests or until they sprung a leak. The cost to the winery was nominal, $40 or less. Once their useful cellar life ended, wineries would cut the barrels in two and sell each half barrel for $25 or $30 each. Not a bad financial deal. And lots were recycled for those petunia pots.

Today the barrel situation is much different. Our wineries' vinifera grapes require much more refined handling -- and barrel choice contributes significantly to the overall sophistication of finished wine. New barrels from several different French forests [Limousin, Nevers], woods of Hungary, Missouri, and sometimes even Ohio each are selected because of the flavors they impart to the wine placed in each.

Rather than being machine-made, in these sophisticated barrels, staves [side slats] are either hand-split [European oak] or saw cut [most American wood] but are all hand-assembled by talented artisans called coopers. The foreign wood is usually shipped from its source country and often assembled in the U.S. to save on shipping. The whole process requires several years of wood aging and the handcrafting adds considerably to the cost. When all of the expenses are compiled, the cost for these barrels is driven to as much $800 each.

Given the investment involved for a medium-sized winery with 100 or more barrels, extending the life of each barrel is critical to a winery's bottom line.

A big part of the barrel's value is that the wine extracts from the wood lots of those flavor components. However, after several years of use, much of that surface no longer does its job.

The process of 'reconditioning' is used and can extend the useful life of a very expensive barrel for several years. In the traditional method, metal barrel bands are removed and the heads [barrel ends] are detached and a router shaves off the wine-saturated wood which is then sanded smooth. Then the staves are shaved and sanded. The wood is allowed to sit undisturbed for a day or two. While the barrel is in pieces, the heads and staves are 'toasted' over open flames and then are re-assembled by the cooper.

Reconditioning is possible because these expensive barrels' heads and staves are thicker than those of the old-style 'whiskey' barrels. The cost of 'traditional reconditioning is mostly labor and ranges from about $100 to $125 a barrel. An Australian firm, in 2012, opened a California factory that hopes to reduce the cost substantively by popping off one head and using a robotic arm to shave and sand the interior of the barrel without totally disassembling it. Other technological solutions including low-pressure washers and high-temperature steam. Other new ideas are being explored throughout the industry, all with the goal of finding cost-effective ways to be able to use a barrel for several additional seasons.

And, for gardeners everywhere, limiting the availability of those flower pots.

For additional information: dwinchell@OhioWines.org