Foudre

French term for a large wooden cask of indefinite size. Popular in France’s Rhône Valley, foudres are significantly larger than small oak barrels (barriques or pieces). Foudres often have the capacity to hold 528 to 3,170 gallons of wine.

One Minute On: A Case for Cases

“Age gives a wine a sense of beauty and satisfaction that it could never have had before when it was young. In our minds, we intuit that beauty and satisfaction as a feeling of completeness. Because so much of life is incomplete, an old wine is remarkable and moving.”

—Warren Winiarski,
founder of Napa Valley’s Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars

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