Why are there no more "foudre" (casks) in Bestheim?

The "foudre" is a huge wooden barrel equivalent to several barrels. It is used to mature and store wines. The particularity of this type of container is its size of course! Wines matured in casks will keep their original fruity aromas just like wines matured in stainless steel tanks. Indeed, a cask being a very large container, the wine inside is not going to be in contact with the wood much. The woody aromas will therefore not be found in wines aged in casks. Thus, maturing in a cask does not influence the wine as it may be the case when maturing in barrels. But then, why are there no more "foudres" in Bestheim?

We take a closer look at the question in this episode of EXTRA BRUT – our educational web series about wine, with gourmet provocateur Nicolas Rieffel. The goal is to answer all the questions you have ever asked about wine, in record time…

The answers are given to us courtesy of the Moon Chasers, members and employees of the Bestheim winery.