00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 These massive barrels will eventually be filled
00:06 with thousands of liters of wine.
00:08 But it's not just so winemakers can age more at once.
00:13 Luxury wine producers making some of the most expensive wine
00:18 in the world say these specific barrels, called frutres,
00:22 impact the taste of their product,
00:25 which is why they're willing to pay
00:26 up to $50,000 for a single barrel.
00:30 It's not only the size that impacts the taste.
00:34 The real star is the wood, specifically French oak.
00:38 The French oak is the best of the world.
00:42 (laughs)
00:44 French oak is a heavily inspected and regulated resource
00:48 used only for the most precious projects,
00:51 like repairing Notre Dame Cathedral.
00:55 In fact, if the French government thinks a cooperage
00:57 didn't bid enough for the wood,
00:59 it reserves the right to block the sale.
01:01 So do these massive barrels really impact the taste of wine?
01:08 And why are frutres so expensive?
01:11 While both American oak and French oak
01:17 can be used to make a frutre,
01:19 French oak is considered far superior,
01:22 which explains why it's more than twice the cost.
01:25 For one, it has a finer grain,
01:29 with rings less than two millimeters apart.
01:32 The slower the tree grows, the tighter the grain.
01:35 France's limestone-based soil and cooler temperatures
01:40 contribute to this slow process.
01:42 This quality allows for a more gradual
01:45 and controlled release of the oak compounds,
01:48 or tannins, into the wine.
01:51 Tannins create the subtle bitter flavor
01:53 and texture you experience in a glass of dry wine,
01:57 or when you bite into the rind of a fruit.
01:59 Dominique Moreau of Vaudreuil-Francois
02:04 comes from a family of wine connoisseurs,
02:07 so he knows what wood makes a good wine.
02:11 (speaking in foreign language)
02:15 Today, he's inspecting French oak wood
02:26 from his supplier, Gaudela.
02:28 (speaking in foreign language)
02:33 (gentle music)
02:36 This wood has already been dried for about four years.
02:46 Once Dominique signs off, it will be transferred
02:49 and stored outside the cooperage for a few more weeks
02:52 before it's ready to be used.
02:53 Wilfried is the gatekeeper,
03:00 choosing which wood will be used for the base
03:02 and keeping the most attractive pieces
03:04 for the main body of the barrel.
03:06 (speaking in foreign language)
03:12 In the end, only 20% of any given French oak tree
03:23 will be deemed suitable to be part of a foudre.
03:26 The discarded pieces will be used elsewhere,
03:30 like fueling the fires for the toasting.
03:32 The boards Wilfried has chosen
03:35 are placed one at a time in this machine,
03:38 which cuts and angles the sides and edges
03:41 to various specifications based on the size of the barrel.
03:44 This allows the boards to form a tube
03:48 when they're arranged vertically.
03:50 They're held together with cables to maintain their shape,
03:55 while the entire barrel is steamed for several hours
03:58 under a tarp to soften it.
04:00 (speaking in foreign language)
04:04 After the heat treatment, the cable is removed
04:24 and the coopers take turns hammering on large metal hoops
04:27 to replace them and maintain the barrel shape.
04:30 They may also need to adjust the boards
04:35 to make sure they're properly aligned and smooth.
04:38 (speaking in foreign language)
04:43 The amount of rings depends on the size of the foudre.
04:49 (speaking in foreign language)
04:55 (machine whirring)
04:58 But why use such a large barrel to age wine?
05:09 First, it means the winemakers will need fewer barrels.
05:14 But most importantly, it means the wine
05:16 touches the surface area of the barrel less often,
05:19 so the flavor the barrel adds to the wine is more subtle.
05:24 These large foudres also minimize oxygen levels.
05:29 While some oxygen is necessary for aging,
05:31 too much can flatten the wine.
05:33 (speaking in foreign language)
05:39 (upbeat music)
05:41 Foudrerie François makes a number
06:06 of different-sized foudres,
06:08 from 1,000 to 50,000 liters.
06:11 It also makes egg or ovoid shapes,
06:16 which are designed to help circulate the dead yeast cells
06:19 and other sediment during fermentation.
06:21 Such large barrels need to be moved with forklifts
06:26 and accessed using ladders and scaffolding.
06:29 The next step is toasting,
06:35 in which kilns are lowered into the open barrels.
06:38 They're monitored closely
06:41 because the barrel could blister or blacken at this stage,
06:45 meaning all the work to build the massive foudre
06:47 could go to waste.
06:49 (speaking in foreign language)
06:54 (upbeat music)
06:56 Toasting brings out more of the tannic flavors,
07:15 and customers can specify the level.
07:18 (speaking in foreign language)
07:23 (upbeat music)
07:26 The bottom pieces are created
07:38 by attaching smaller boards with wooden dowels.
07:41 Strips of wood are also added in between them
07:44 to make sure it's an airtight, waterproof fit.
07:47 And a groove is cut along the outside edge
07:53 so that it will fit securely into the bottom
07:55 and act as a seal.
07:56 At this point, any accessories are added,
08:06 like the tasting tap or special thermometers.
08:10 Since Foudre Rue François customizes its foudres
08:13 for its clients,
08:14 each barrel is built to their specifications.
08:17 (speaking in foreign language)
08:23 (upbeat music)
08:26 Logos of the winery brands
08:45 are also chiseled into the wood.
08:47 The containers are finally packaged
08:51 and shipped to their final destination.
08:54 Foudre Rue François has customers all over the world.
08:59 (speaking in foreign language)
09:05 Typically, only high-end wineries use French oak barrels,
09:19 which are more expensive than American oak.
09:22 They start at about 8,000 euros for a 1,000-liter foudre.
09:28 A standard 225-liter French oak barrel
09:31 sells for about 900 euros,
09:34 and a similar one made of American oak
09:36 is about half the cost at 470 euros.
09:40 This ultimately increases the cost of the wine as well.
09:45 If an installation is outside of France,
09:48 the price goes up even higher
09:51 and could be as much as 45,000 euros.
09:54 While the oak flavor will start to fade over time,
09:58 the foudres can still be used to ferment for decades.
10:01 (speaking in foreign language)
10:06 Each barrel from Foudre Rue François
10:12 is also marked with a small plaque for transparency.
10:16 (speaking in foreign language)
10:20 Traceability is important
10:38 because quality oak trees are a limited resource.
10:41 They take over 120 years to mature,
10:45 so the person who planted the seed
10:47 won't even be allowed to see the foudre or taste the wine.
10:50 It's March in the Loire Valley of central France,
10:56 and a new batch of logs has just arrived
10:59 at the Gueux de la Sommeille.
11:00 The company specializes in processing
11:04 and supplying locally sourced oak
11:05 to some of the top cooperages in the country,
11:08 including Foudre Rue François.
11:12 (speaking in foreign language)
11:16 There's an initial quality check upon arrival,
11:24 one of many in the road to becoming a foudre.
11:27 (speaking in foreign language)
11:32 A worker will measure out the desired length
11:38 and make note of any initial knots
11:40 or imperfections in the wood,
11:42 which would cause a leak in the final barrel.
11:45 The logs are sorted and lifted onto a conveyor,
11:50 where a machine removes the bark.
11:52 Each log is then cut into a pile known as a boule,
12:03 using vertical cuts in the same direction as the fibers.
12:06 Then they're unstacked and reexamined.
12:11 The ideal pieces have very straight fibers.
12:14 Quality, tight-grain wood is a treasured resource
12:30 for cooperages, so the Office National des Forêts,
12:34 or ONF, holds auctions for plots of trees every fall.
12:38 In 2022, 44,000 cubic meters of wood
12:42 were sold to a variety of cooperages
12:44 for a record 15 million euros.
12:47 (speaking in foreign language)
12:52 The boules are placed outside to be air-dried
13:07 for up to four years before they're delivered to a buyer.
13:10 Drying reduces moisture, which can warp the wood,
13:20 and helps strengthen it for use in a foudre.
13:23 Since World War II, the French government
13:37 has been carefully managing their growth and distribution.
13:40 It maintains some plots of only the straightest trees
13:44 with the finest grains,
13:46 regularly clearing out any weak outliers.
13:49 The ONF also established a system called Mosaic Forest
13:54 to battle the climate crisis.
13:57 This involves planting a mixture of species
13:59 to nurture the growth of the more valuable oak trees.
14:03 These methods seem to be working for now.
14:06 France's forests have been growing
14:08 at a rate of 85,000 hectares per year, according to the ONF.
14:12 But the Ministry of Agriculture released a report in 2023
14:17 calling for billions of euros
14:19 to help combat extreme heat and drought,
14:22 which it says could eliminate 30% of tree species
14:25 in France by 2050.
14:27 It's something that takes a long time to grow
14:30 and is being rarified,
14:33 especially by the surface it's on,
14:35 and by climate change,
14:36 which means that many trees are dying today.
14:39 (Music)
14:43 (Music)
14:47 (Music)
14:50 (thudding)
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