Coopers continue to tout new barrels that provide subtle hints of oak and structure to wine. Examples include T.W. Boswell’s Minerality barrel and the latest edition to Seguin Moreau’s Icône line of barrels. Two other suppliers, Bouchard Cooperages and Tonnellerie Ô, are now offering American oak barrels built with wood from forests in specific states and even cut at specific stave mills.

T.W. BOSWELL
T.W. Boswell released the Minerality barrel, which is the latest addition to its Cool Climate series. The barrel is produced with 36-month, extra-fine-grain French oak from T.W. Boswell’s “Special Reserve” premium wood selection and toasted with “low-impact proprietary toasts.” According to the cooperage, the barrel is built to accentuate minerality and fruit acidity “while adding a light touch of oak, firm structure and a crisp, steely finish.”
twboswell.com

TONNELLERIE Ô
By working with partner stave mills in Minnesota, Missouri and Virginia, Tonnellerie Ô is now offering a “Single Mill Series” of American oak barrels. The cooperage isolates wood sourcing, stave production and seasoning “for a clear, mill-designated personality.” The staves are aged for 36 months to achieve “the most elegant expression of American oak,” and are available in 200-, 225-, 228- and 265-liter sizes with a thin-stave option for the 225-liter barrel. Available toasts include blond, medium, medium-plus and heavy as well as custom. The cooperage also added new French Oak Futaie selections from single mills in Bordeaux available in Thin Stave and Burgundy Export formats with proprietary toasting.
tonnellerieo.com

TONNELLERIE BEL AIR
Bel Air’s new 600-liter cask is produced with 27 mm staves that the supplier says are a bit thinner than what’s typically used in other large barrels. Bel Air reinforces the cask heads, but the thinner staves result in a cask that’s “considerably” lighter than other large barrels on the market. The cask comes in three profiles—Elégance, Révélation and Volupté—that are assembled with blends of different woods that vary in tannin structure, length, volume and texture. The supplier recommends clients taste the various oak selections to develop a blend that fits their wine. Bel Air’s house toast is medium long, which the cooperage says “boosts aromatics without overwhelming the wine.”
tonnellerie-bel-air.fr

SEGUIN MOREAU
The Finesse barrel is the latest addition to Seguin Moreau’s Icône line of barrels. The Finesse is designed for lighter style red wines such as Pinot Noir. All of the barrels in the Icône line are assembled with staves of similar oak structure determined by chemical composition to deliver a consistent impact on the wine.
seguinmoreaunapa.com

TRUST INTERNATIONAL
Assembled with three-year-aged French oak staves with the tightest grain, Trust’s Élevé barrel is suited for Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The cooperage reports the barrel can bring tropical aromatics and flavors with full mouthfeel to Chardonnay, add a bit of spice to the aromatics of strawberry and other fruit flavors of Pinot Noir and add notes of vanilla and red cedar with a finish of milk chocolate and coffee to Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux varieties.
barrelmakers.com

TONNELLERIE SAINT MARTIN
Designed to encompass a range of PEFC-certified single-forest barrels, Tonnellerie Saint Martin’s Initiale line includes barrels produced with wood from the Allier, Vosges, Nevers, Fontainebleau and Centre of France forests as well as the “AV” blend comprised of oak from the Allier and Vosges forests. The oak is seasoned for 24 months, and the barrels are intended to enhance the complexity of a wine’s aromatics as well as “elegance and length” on the palate. The Initiale line is suitable for medium- to long-aging wines and will also add tannins to help wine structure.
tonnelleriesaintmartin.com

HEINRICH COOPERAGE
Flipped regularly during a low and slow toast, the Cadence barrel by Heinrich Cooperage in Australia provides “excellent structure, mid-palate weight and complexity.” The American oak barrel can boost aromatics and fruit characteristics in white wines while also coaxing out fruit notes and adding light toast to reds.
heinrich.com.au

BOUCHARD COOPERAGES
Bouchard Cooperages’ Master Coopers line now includes an American oak barrel built with wood from forests in Missouri, Pennsylvania or Minnesota. According to the supplier, barrels in the Master Coopers line are toasted with a unique process tailored to the characteristics of the wood. Toasted for a longer amount of time with less flame, the finished barrel is described as offering subtle oak flavors with no “aggressive lactones,” plankiness or dill.
bouchardcooperages.com