Wine Words Demystified: Cooperage

You know the deal; the more some folks learn about a topic, the more shortcuts/slang/acronyms/initials/technical jargon can be tossed around.  I’m here to help you understand those sometimes mysterious words and phrases, thus – Wine Words Demystified!

This week’s word is Cooperage…

According to Karen MacNeil‘s The Wine Bible:

“Containers a winery uses for storing wine, usually barrels or wooden cask, though the term cooperage can also apply to concrete or stainless steel vessels”

This is actually one of the words, I had NO idea of the what the meaning was of when I first got into wine.   The term derives from the “cooper”, an individual who makes or repairs wooden containers.  From a practical point of view it just refers to the barrels in which wine is aged.

A Cooper toasting wine barrels – Image courtesy of thecultureofwine.blogspot.com
Wine aging in a concrete “egg” Image courtesy of winebusiness.com

2 Comments

  1. Excellent post! Agreed that some people enjoy tossing around big wine words. Kudos to you for your sensible, matter-of-fact approach to wine appreciation. Cheers!

    1. Thanks Pamela…make it a great weekend!

Comments are closed.