Alongside the clay amphora, the wooden barrel is one of the oldest wine vessels. The Greek historian Herodotus (482-425 BC) mentions barrels made of palm wood in which wine was transported to Babylon. The Celts used wooden barrels on a large scale for transporting wine from around 600 BC. The conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) around 50 BC led to the Romans adopting the skill of making barrels. They mainly used fir wood. Remains of wooden barrels (cupas) have been found in Pompeii, for example. Today, oak wood from French or American oaks is mainly used to make wine barrels, but acacia and chestnut are also very popular.
For my many years of work as an editor with a wine and culinary focus, I always like to inform myself about special questions at Wine lexicon. Spontaneous reading and following links often leads to exciting discoveries in the wide world of wine.
Dr. Christa Hanten
Fachjournalistin, Lektorin und Verkosterin, Wien