All about wine barrels

Wine barrels fill the cellars at the iconic Rioja winery Marques De Riscal.There are many terms for wine barrels in the many languages of wine. Whether called a ‘barrique’, ‘cask’, ‘foudre’, or ‘botte’, these terms refer to wooden vessels that both store and shape the wines within them. The main reason for the use of barrels in winemaking is a process called micro-oxygenation. This means that a small amount of air passes through the grains in the w