The distillers in the Charente, the area around the city of Cognac were looking for vessels to ship their distillates – the Cognac – overseas!

At that time, it was natural to build these vessels in the form of a wooden barrel and from the wood of the region – the Limousin and the Tronҫais forest area.

Especially with the wood from the Limousin – a region in southwestern France very fertile by the soils and thus location of large, mighty but also fast growing oaks one connects today the origin of the small maturity barrels.
Wooden barrels made of Limousin oak, became synonymous for a while when talking about small barrique barrels made of French oak.

For the aging of Cognac, even today, barrels of 300 to 350 liters are mostly used. This content ensures a balance between the internal surface and the maturation process due to the penetration of air from the outside.
Approximately 1.5% shrinkage results from this maturation in the cognac barrels per year. The older the barrels become, the more saturated the wood is with brandy, the cognac!

After emptying and a general overhaul, these premium cognac barrels are then actually even more valuable for further use as flavor carriers, e.g. in the maturation of fine craft beers, the finishing of whiskey or gin and all kinds of distillates that are to be refined with the maturation in cognac barrels.
Alcohol preserves – even wood, to the extent that wooden barrels, which have matured for sometimes decades of great cognac qualities, have an almost endless life with good care.

As is so often the case with these valuable Cognac wooden barrels, exceptional qualities have their price, are rare and by no means to be confused with barrels in which Brandy was stored in Spain – these are often made of American oak.

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