Using oak barrels for ageing either spirits or wine is all about adding flavours from the wood and modulating existing flavours in the liquid. Using heat on the inside of the barrel will help to mellow the tanins naturally occurring in the wood and add spicy or vanilla notes that raw oak cannot impart. There…

New wine barrels cost a lot of money – high quality oak is in restricted supply and high demand and coopering a barrel is a highly skilled and time-consuming operation. So we have available a lower cost option available for clients who are looking for new barrel characteristics (so no flavours coming from the barrel…

Our used port wine barrels all start their lives as either 225 or 500 litre barrels, but we get a lot of requests for smaller barrels from distillers who are looking to age their spirits faster. So we do the work of cutting the barrels down to size, which means we have to cut the…

We have a range of oak chips and alternatives available in both French and American oak, with various toast options. As well as oak chips, we also have oak powder, cubes, sticks and staves all available untoasted, medium toast or extra toast. We also provide strainer bags appropriate to the size of oak alternative that…

Here are our latest prices for used port wine barrels (and also used sherry barrels and used madeira barrels). Used Tawny Port Barrels500L – €770225L – €510128L – €31040L – €286 Used Ruby Port Barrels225L – €320128L – €28540L – €260 Used Madeira Barrels225L – €342128L – €31240L – €289 Used Sherry BarrelsOloroso 500L –…

The majority of what we sell is used Port wine barrels and used sherry barrels, but we do have a fluctuating stock of various exotic used barrels, mainly from Portugal but from other locations also. At the moment our used barrel stock for sale includes:Sauterne – 225 Litres Madeira – 225 Litres Dry White Port…

Our cooperage is based around 30 minutes south of Porto on the coast (in the city of Esmoriz) – there are only a handful of cooperages left in Portugal now and we would be very happy to welcome you to visit to see barrels being made and to learn about how the barrel making process…

We receive used port wine barrels in a wide variation of conditions from the port wine houses where they were originally used. Prior to being used to age port wine, they have all also been used to age normal wine, so they will have had several years of usage by the time they get to…

We get a lot of requests from all over the world for used port wine barrels, but because they are so bulky, often the price of transport can be a real issue. So here is an idea of the kind of prices that you will pay for transport. Obviously you will see a major reduction…

Making a wooden barrel is a skilled craft – taking planks of wood and bending them to make a watertight vessel is something that takes many years to perfect. At our cooperage in northern Portugal (and indeed all over the world) it is always a struggle to find sufficiently skilled craftsman and training up an…