Frequently Asked Questions

While the specifics are kept at the cooperage, water-bending involves placing the stavewood  in hot water prior to bending.  Once heated and softened, the stavewood can be bent quickly into the barrel shape.  After the hoops are set, the barrel is placed over the toasting fire until the desired temperature is achieved.

Fire-bending skips the submersion in hot water and is slowly bent over a wood fire, prior to toasting.

Not necessarily.  If the barrel has been in the warehouse for a while, prior to delivery, you may want to add a few liters of non-chlorinated hot water and stand the barrel on its head.  After a couple of minutes, turn the barrel over onto the other head.  This procedure assures that the croze are tight and will not leak.  Any barrel to be used shortly after delivery should be tight and does not need this treatment.

The Dargaud & Jaeglé cooperage in Romaneche-Thorins produces about 25,000 barrels per year.

We have different sales managers covering different territories.  Dan Sacks covers Napa and Lake Counties as well as the Sierra foothills, the Bay Area region including Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties, Oregon, Western Washington and British Columbia. 
Ed Schulz services Sonoma and Mendocino Counties and the Central Coast of California down into Mexico.  Ed also handles Eastern Washington and Idaho.

Eric Mercier services Eastern Canada, the Northeastern US, as well as the states of Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.

If your winery is not already on our mailing list, please feel free to call us at 800-227-5625 to be added or simple click here for a copy.

Most of our orders are taken over the phone, after the winemaker has had the opportunity to assess his barrel needs for that year.  In the past few years, we have sold out of DJ so we encourage you to order early.

The shapes and dimensions for the Dargaud & Jaeglé barrels can be found by going directly to their website, www.dargaud-jaegle.fr, and clicking on the catalogue of the individual barrels.  Please look on our site for the different American Oak dimensions.

Yes. We source our used barrels from local CA wineries and from Europe. We also sell used spirit barrels for use in beer production. Feel free to contact us for more details.

For a limited time period each season, on some of our products, North American clients with good payment histories can obtain a discount for early order, early reception and timely payment. Contact us early in the pre-Harvest cycle to see if you qualify. Marcel Cadet barrels and some exclusive offerings are never discounted.

Your regional sales manager should contact you prior to delivery.  We make every effort to advise and consult in advance of delivery, to avoid surprises.  Your barrel order has a target date for delivery, but we always try to re-confirm, prior to actual delivery.

Payment for wine barrels can be made by check, by wire transfer or credit cards.  

Consult your regional manager for a specific recommendation.  Some leaks are easily dealt with on site, others are best handled in a workshop.

One year guarantee of leak-free service.

Only Famous Forest selections, such as Jupilles, Darney, Troncais and Fontainebleau.  The exact proprietary blend, and hand-restacking, ensures superbly seasoned stavewood.

For many years, Barrel Associates has relied upon a blend of several forest sources, and seasoning ages, to ameliorate big seasonal variations often seen in single-forest American oak wine barrels.  The “house” profile is reliably dialed in by choosing Fire Bent, Water Bent or DeepToast™ bending methods.  Please consult your regional manager for detailed questions about specific American oak forests.