The cooper

At a glance

• Workshop visited: Serge Chalufour, Jarnac (Cognac region)
• Raw material: oak staves (douelles)
• Key steps: raising, heating, toasting (bousinage), heading, hooping
• Lifespan of a cask: close to a century

A two-thousand-year-old craft

The book credits the Celts with inventing the barrel some two thousand years ago. The principle has never changed: staves of oak are set side by side, bent over fire and held by galvanized iron hoops, the feuillards.

Machines now cut and joint the staves, but raising the cask, heating it and hooping it remain manual operations, even in the large modern factories around Cognac.

How a cask is made

The cooper stands the staves inside a mould hoop, forming a narrow tower that flares at the bottom. The cask is then heated over a small fire, the grâlasse, to soften the wood, and drawn in at its base with a steel cable.

Once bent, the inside is blackened over the embers. This toasting, called bousinage, gives cognac part of its aroma. The heads are fitted into their groove, the belly is smoothed with a riflard, a broad blade held between two handles, and the hoops are driven home with hammer blows on the driver.

Repair and long life

In the repair shop at Jarnac, casks are opened and damaged staves replaced one by one. A well-made cask can live close to a hundred years, but after a few years the wood gives no more tannin, so new staves are added regularly.

The poet and cooper Pierre Boujut is quoted in the book: as long as people drink cognac worthy of the name, casks will be made to give future generations the famous scent of the gods.

Objects to look for

Collectors seek the cooper's compass, broad axe (doloire) and drawknife, described in the From the Vine to the Wine chapter of this encyclopedia. Old casks themselves are often reused as tables or planters.