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Article: Alternative oak sources.
- Article from:
- Wines & Vines
- Article date:
- August 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Wines & Vines. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Wooden barrels have been used for well over 2,000 years to store wine. According to Jancis Robinson, writing in the "Oxford Companion to Wine" the Greek historian Herodotus reported that palm wood barrels were used to carry Armenian wine to Babylon. So far as we could determine in a recent survey of coopers and wine barrel suppliers, there is not a brisk trade in palm barrels today for wine aging or storage.
In a survey conducted this summer, we asked suppliers to comment on sources of oak for cooperage outside the traditional areas of the U.S. and France. We also asked that they compare the oak in quality and price. We found that although oak wine barrels are ...