Handcrafted manufacture, french oak barrels, second life after use… The Château Cantenac Brown barrels got lots of secrets aspects.
Handcrafted manufacture
Cantenac Brown works with different cooperage as Seguin Moreau, Tonnellerie Sylvain, Boutes or Taransaud. An handcrafted manufacture and a superior know-how : let’s focus on the steps of barrels making.
- Purchase of oak plots and selection of trees: The oaks selected by the buyers are on average 200 to 250 years old and come from the French forests.
- Split: Felled trees, called logs, are transformed into short logs and then into cask woods thanks to bucking, cutting, splitting, sawing, splitting and trimming operations.
- Sorting: Inspection of the quality of the cask wood and staves.
- Maturation: It is during this stage that the oak wood undergoes important transformations: disappearance of coarse tannins, biochemical maturation and development of aromas. This stage lasts on average two years.
- Assembly in rose: The assembly in rose corresponds which consists of placing the staves in a circle with a truss ring surrounding them to form a ‘rose’.
- Heating: Once assembled, the barrel is heated by fire. This operation gives an aromatic dimension to the barrel.
- Finishes: Finally, the barrels are sanded to have a silky look, then all the barrels are customised.
The use of the barrels
Oak wood barrels have the specificity to bring to the wine roasted almonds aromas, coffee, roasting, vanilla… It also exist acacia barrels, but theses ones are less used in the vineyards.
The ageing of Cantenac Brown’s wines is made in brand new barrels or one-year barrels. According to their use, tastes and tannin that the barrel bring to the wine and the synergy between the oak and the wine will be totally different. Here is the distribution made by Cantenac Brown for its three wines :
- Château Cantenac Brown : 60% new barrels & 40% one-year barrels
- Brio de Cantenac Brown : 25% new barrels & 75% one-year barrels
- Alto de Cantenac Brown : 10% new barrels & 90% one-year barrels
The second life of Cantenac Brown’s barrels
There is a partnership between Chateau Cantenac Brown and a producer of Moon Harbour whiskey in Bordeaux. Moon Harbour produces few whiskeys in barrels of Chateaux as Cantenac Brown. The Scottish origins of Cantenac Brown echo to the ones of the whiskey, which add a value to the final product.