BREEDING
They switch from barrels to foudres, producing fresher, more aromatic wines.
More and more winemakers are reducing the number of barrels they use, in favor of foudres or other large wooden containers, in order to control the amount of wood in their wines.
Lucie Kempnich – Domaine Gayda
At Domaine Gayda, in Brugairolles, Aude, it was in 2021 that the first three 25hl foudres made their debut. “We bought three more in 2022,” explains cellar master Lucie Kempnich. We wanted to increase the volume under wood, while preserving the freshness of our wines and controlling the amount of wood. We use new foudres to ferment and mature our whites for ten months. In subsequent years, they are used to age our top-of-the-range red cuvées for 24 to 36 months.” Satisfied with the result, Lucie Kempnich hopes to buy new tuns for the 2024 vintage.
Revamped organization to house the tunsFor those it already owns, it has purchased from Stockinger, an Austrian cooperage. We also had to reorganize the way we housed them. “We have reduced our barrel stock and created a new cellar for the reds in 2023 in which the six foudres and our barrels are brought together,” she explains.
In use, Lucie Kempnich sees other advantages to these containers than the contribution of a very mellow woodiness: “It’s easier to manage a single 25hl cask than five 500-liter barrels or ten 225-liter barrels: there’s less handling. And racking is simpler, thanks to the front-mounted valves.” The same goes for topping up. “It’s very quick: all I have to do is climb onto a stepladder and, in less than an hour, I’m done,” says the cellar master.
Less handling
For Domaine Gayda, there’s no question of abandoning the barrel. “We used to have around 500 225-liter barrels, but now we only have 400. We want to maintain the stock at this level, with around thirty 500-liter barrels for maturing our whites”, confides the cellar master.
