Since ancient times, a wide variety of woods from the tree species acacia, eucalyptus, chestnut, cherry, palm, pine and cedar have been used to make wine casks. Wooden barrels were hardly known in ancient Greece, but the Greek historian Herodotus (482-425 BC) reports of such barrels in the city of Babylon, which were made of palm wood. It is considered fairly certain that the Celts were already using wooden barrels for transport two to one millennium before the calendar and that the Romans adopted this skill from them. However, the most suitable wood for wine storage or barrique ageing is oak. It is one of the hardest woods, tough, very durable and still easy to work with. In addition, the nature of the ring-shaped pores prevents liquids from passing through the wood. This is ideal for the construction of all kinds of vessels, especially barrels.
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