Cooperage: a living tradition
One example of the maintenance of our traditions, is the conservation of continuity in our coopery, the only one in Spain continuing the craft of producing all the barrels used for the maturing of our wines.
Since our great-grandfather founded the Bodega in Haro, in 1877, the coopery has fórmed an important link in the process of producing fine high-quality wines. Every day it performs the unchanging craft of working in wood, not only for the sake of tradition, but as a necessary and essential component in achieving the personality that characterises our wines.
One of our coopers at work
A further effort to be proud of
Historically most of the bodegas making fine high quality wines use barrels for maturation, which is an important factor in their success. Many bodegas used to have their own coopery, but these have been gradually disappearing for commercial reasons.
We continue to maintain our workshop, which involves us in a significant additional effort; but this is worthwhile, because of its direct contribution to the whole barrel making process.
From the purchase of the wood at source (naturally-growing oak, all from the Appalachian mountains in the United States) to the construction and assembly of the barrel with its hoops, through the intervening processes (sawing, drying/c uring, toasting).
We're not trying to turn cooperage into a science: our purpose is primarily to pass on to the consumer little-known information on the whole process of producing wine and in turn to show the approaches that we use in López de Heredia when choosing wood, contributing we believe, to a better understanding of the properties of our wines.