Why Are Some Wine Barrels So Big? Oak, Botti & Barriques in Tuscany
- Rebecca Gouttenoire
- 2 days ago
- 11 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Why is that barrel huge... and those ones over there so small?”
It's a question we hear all the time on our wine tours.
Walk into a traditional Tuscan cellar and you might find enormous wooden casks towering above you.
Then, at the next winery, you walk downstairs and find neat rows of small French barrels.
Sometimes you'll find both in the same cellar.
And increasingly, you'll find something in between.
Naturally, people wonder:
What's the difference?
Is one traditional and the other modern?
Does one make better wine?
Does a smaller barrel make the wine taste more "oaky"?
And perhaps the biggest question of all:
Why use oak in the first place?
The answer takes us straight into one of the most fascinating chapters of modern Tuscan wine.
Because the barrel isn't simply somewhere to store wine.
It's a winemaking tool.
And changing the size, age, origin and toast of that barrel can change the wine inside it enormously.
DID YOU KNOW? For all the attention we give oak in the wine world, surprisingly little wine actually spends time ageing in wooden barrels. Wine-industry estimates have put the figure at just 2–3% of global wine production. In other words, those beautiful barrel cellars we associate so strongly with winemaking are actually the exception, not the rule.
First: Why Put Wine in Oak at All?
For centuries, wooden barrels were practical.
Wine needed containers for storage and transportation, and wood was strong, relatively lightweight and could be made into vessels of many different sizes.
But winemakers gradually understood that something interesting happened while wine rested inside them.
Wine doesn't simply sit there.
Ageing wine in wood allows a very slow exposure to oxygen as the wine matures.
That gradual evolution can help tannins become less aggressive, aromas develop and the wine become more harmonious over time.
But oak can do something else too.
It can contribute flavour.
Vanilla.
Sweet spices.
Toast.
Coffee.
Smoke.
Sometimes even coconut or chocolate-like aromas.
How much of that you taste depends on many things.
What kind of oak?
How new is it?
How heavily was it toasted?
How large is the barrel?
And how long did the wine stay inside?
Which brings us to Tuscany's giants.
Meet the Botte
Walk into an old Tuscan cellar and you may find wooden vessels so enormous that calling them "barrels" seems slightly ridiculous.
These are botti, botte in the singular.
And there is no single standard size.
A traditional botte might hold 20, 30 or 50 hectolitres.
Some historic botti can tower several metres high and contain tens of thousands of litres of wine.
Stand beside one and suddenly a normal wine barrel looks like a toy.
But here's the important thing.
Big barrels behave very differently from small barrels.
Imagine 5,000 litres of wine inside one enormous wooden vessel.
Only the wine around the outside is directly touching wood.
There is therefore relatively little wood surface compared with the enormous volume of wine.
And many traditional botti aren't new.
They may have been used for years.
Sometimes decades.
By then, most of the obvious flavours that new oak can contribute have long since diminished.
So the purpose isn't really to make the wine taste like wood.
It's to give the wine somewhere to slowly mature.
There’s a practical difference too. A barrique can be moved around a cellar relatively easily. A giant botte is another matter entirely. Some are so large that they have to be assembled inside the cellar, because once built, they simply wouldn’t fit through the door!
Also economically, the Botte is entirely different beast. It's an enormous investment for future decades during which they are well-looked after, cleaned and renovated.
How Does a Botte Last That Long?
Look closely at an old botte and you may notice a small stainless-steel door near the bottom.
It isn't decorative.
It allows someone to actually enter the botte when maintenance is required.
Large botti can remain in use for decades, but they need looking after. Over time they can be cleaned, inspected and, when necessary, renovated from the inside.
I filmed this process around fifteen years ago and unfortunately the video quality shows its age, but I've kept it because it's something you rarely get to see.
Watching someone climb inside an enormous wine cask gives you a completely different appreciation of just how permanent these vessels can be in a traditional cellar.
The Wine Still Tastes Like Wine
This is particularly important with Sangiovese.
Sangiovese can be wonderfully aromatic and transparent.
Cherry. Violets. Herbs. Earth. Spice.
And, of course, that wonderful natural acidity.
A winemaker may not want to cover those characteristics with vanilla, toast and sweet oak flavours.
Large, seasoned botti allow the wine to evolve while generally keeping the fruit and character of the grape in the foreground.
This is one reason enormous casks became so closely associated with traditional Tuscan winemaking.
And nowhere is that association stronger than in Montalcino.
And What Is Slavonian Oak?
Here's another thing that sometimes confuses visitors.
They hear Slavonian oak and imagine Slovenia.
But Slavonia is a historical region located primarily in present-day Croatia.
Oak from Slavonia became particularly important for large Italian wine casks and is strongly associated with traditional ageing in areas such as Montalcino.
More broadly, large Tuscan botti may be made from oak sourced from different parts of Eastern and Central Europe.
But this is where we need to be careful.
It's very tempting to say:
Slavonian oak = traditional. French oak = modern.
Wine is never quite that simple.
Because what matters enormously isn't only where the oak comes from.
It's what the winemaker does with it.
And What's That Glass Thing on Top?
Now look at the top of an old botte.
You may notice a curious glass object sticking out of it.
It looks a little like something from a chemistry laboratory.
That is the colmatore.
And for me, it's one of those wonderfully old-fashioned pieces of cellar equipment that deserves more attention.
Wine ageing in wood doesn't remain at exactly the same level forever.
A small amount is gradually lost through evaporation.
You may have heard this romantically described as the "angel's share."
Charming name. Potentially troublesome result.
Because if the level of wine inside the botte falls, an empty space develops above it.
And empty space means air.
Too much contact with air can lead to unwanted oxidation and other problems.
The colmatore makes it easier to monitor changes in the wine level, including those caused by temperature fluctuations, and allows the cellar worker to see when more wine is required.
Simple.
Ingenious.
You may even hear that the colmatore was invented by Leonardo da Vinci, a wonderful story, although I have yet to find convincing historical evidence for it.
Once you know what a Colmatore is, you'll start spotting them in old Tuscan cellars everywhere.
Then Came the Barrique
Now let's walk into another cellar.
Instead of enormous botti, we find rows of small barrels.
These are often barriques.
The classic Bordeaux barrique holds around 225 litres.
Compare that with a 5,000-litre botte and something immediately becomes obvious.
There is much more wood relative to the amount of wine.
That means much more contact between wine and oak.
And if the barrel is new?
The effect can be significant.
A new French oak barrique can contribute aromas and flavours of vanilla, toast, spice, cedar, coffee or smoke.
The exact character depends on the origin of the oak, the grain of the wood, the cooper and how the barrel was made and toasted.
But small barrels aren't only about flavour.
They also influence the way a wine develops.
And during the great transformation of Tuscan wine in the late twentieth century, that became very interesting indeed.
When Tuscany Embraced the Barrique
Barriques weren't invented in Tuscany, of course.
They had long been fundamental to winemaking in Bordeaux.
But during the second half of the twentieth century, Tuscan winemaking began changing dramatically.
Producers were experimenting.
Cabernet Sauvignon. Merlot.
International winemaking techniques. Lower yields.
Different vineyard practices.
And different approaches to ageing.
This was also the world from which many of the wines we now call Super Tuscans emerged.
Small French oak barrels fitted naturally into that revolution.
Cabernet and Merlot already had a long history with barrique ageing in France.
But soon something else happened. Winemakers began putting Sangiovese into barriques too.
And Tuscany Started Tasting Different
For some wines, the transformation was dramatic.
Sangiovese aged in small new oak could become richer, rounder and more polished.
The tannins felt different. The aromas changed.
Alongside cherry and herbs came vanilla, sweet spice, toast and sometimes coffee or chocolate notes.
For some people, this was thrilling.
Tuscan wine suddenly seemed modern, luxurious and international.
For others?
Something precious was being lost.
Where was the sour cherry? Where were the flowers?
Where was the slightly wild, savoury personality of Sangiovese?
Had Tuscany started tasting too much like everywhere else?
Traditionalists vs Modernists
And here we arrive at one of the great wine debates of Tuscany.
Botti versus barriques.
Traditional versus modern.
Sangiovese versus international varieties.
Old methods versus new ideas.
For a while, these divisions could become surprisingly ideological.
A cellar full of enormous old botti seemed to announce one philosophy.
A cellar lined with shiny new French barriques seemed to announce another.
But thankfully, wine has a habit of refusing to fit neatly into boxes.
Because today the reality is much more interesting.
Why Are We Seeing More Tonneaux?
Wine fashions change.
There was a period when quite obvious new-oak character was fashionable.
Today, many Tuscan producers are looking for something subtler.
They haven't necessarily abandoned French oak.
But many are asking how they can use oak without allowing the oak to become the main thing you taste.
And that's where the tonneau becomes particularly interesting.
A typical tonneau used for wine ageing holds around 500 litres — more than twice the capacity of a Bordeaux barrique, but still tiny beside a traditional botte.
That puts it in a useful middle ground.
More wood influence than a giant neutral botte.
Less proportional wood contact than a 225-litre barrique.
The producer can still choose new oak.
Or second-use oak.
Or third-use oak.
Different forests.
Different grains.
Different toast levels.
But the larger volume can make the relationship between wine and wood feel less intense.
That doesn't make tonneaux "better" than barriques.
It simply makes them another tool.
And increasingly, a very useful one.
Then There's the Toast
This is another detail that's easy to overlook.
A barrel isn't simply made from oak and handed to the winemaker.
During its construction, the inside of the barrel can be toasted over fire.
The amount of heat and the length of toasting influence the compounds in the wood and therefore what that barrel may eventually contribute to the wine.
At the simplest level, you might encounter descriptions ranging from:
Untoasted → Light → Medium → Medium+ → Strong
Some producers and coopers may express this on something resembling a 0–4 scale.
But don't think of that as a universal international standard.
Every cooper has its own methods, terminology and recipes.
And toast matters.
A lightly toasted barrel and a heavily toasted barrel made from otherwise similar oak can behave very differently.
Depending on the wood and the toast, you might find aromas associated with vanilla, spice, smoke, coffee, caramel or toast.
Which means that saying: "This wine was aged in French oak" really doesn't tell us very much.
New Oak and Old Oak Are Very Different Things
People often ask:
"Was this aged in oak?"
But that's only the beginning of the question.
Because a brand-new barrel and a five-year-old barrel are very different tools.
New oak contains plenty of compounds that can influence the aroma and flavour of the wine.
Use that same barrel again and the effect becomes weaker.
Again?
Weaker still.
Eventually the barrel becomes relatively neutral.
It still functions as a vessel for maturation, but contributes much less obvious oak flavour.
So when someone says:
"This wine spent 18 months in French oak."
I immediately want to know more.
What size?
Barrique?
Tonneau?
Something larger?
How much was new?
How old were the other barrels?
What toast?
Because those details can completely change what that sentence means.
Size Matters Too
Imagine making tea.
Put a tea bag into a small cup and the flavour develops quickly.
Put the same tea bag into a bathtub and you might wait a very long time.
Oak works a little like that.
The smaller the barrel, the greater the ratio of wood surface to wine.
So, very roughly:
Huge botte → low wood-to-wine ratio
500-litre tonneau → somewhere in the middle
225-litre barrique → much higher wood-to-wine ratio
But remember that size isn't acting alone.
A brand-new 500-litre tonneau may contribute more obvious oak character than an old, well-used 225-litre barrique.
Back to the tea analogy: imagine using a brand-new tea bag versus one you've already used several times. Same cup, very different result.
A heavily toasted barrel behaves differently from a lightly toasted one.
And two barrels of the same size made by different coopers can produce different results.
And suddenly you begin to see how many choices the winemaker actually has — depending on the grape, the vintage and the style of wine they want to make.
It's Not Botti or Barriques Anymore
Visit Tuscan wineries today and you'll find just about every possible combination.
Huge botti.
Small barriques.
500-litre tonneaux.
Medium-sized casks.
French oak.
Slavonian and other European oak.
New barrels.
Second-use barrels.
Third-use barrels.
Concrete tanks.
Amphorae.
Sometimes all under the same roof.
A producer might ferment a wine in concrete, mature part of it in tonneaux and another part in botti before blending everything together.
Another might use barriques for Cabernet but large casks for Sangiovese.
Another might use tonneaux for Sangiovese but choose mostly second-use wood.
Another might decide that a particular vineyard needs hardly any oak influence at all.
Which is why the old traditionalist versus modernist argument doesn't tell the whole story anymore.
Oak Isn't Only for Ageing
One last twist: wooden vessels aren't used only for ageing. Wine can also be fermented in oak, from smaller barrels to much larger wooden vats. It's far less common than simply ageing wine in wood, but you will occasionally encounter it. Another reminder that seeing a wooden vessel in a cellar doesn't necessarily tell you exactly what the winemaker is doing with it.
So Which Is Better?
A huge old botte isn't automatically better because it's traditional.
An expensive new French barrique isn't automatically better because it costs more.
And a tonneau isn't automatically the perfect compromise just because it sits somewhere in the middle.
The real question is:
What is the winemaker trying to achieve?
Imagine a delicate, aromatic Sangiovese from a high-altitude vineyard.
Perhaps the winemaker wants to preserve its flowers, red fruit, acidity and sense of place.
Large neutral oak might be perfect.
Now imagine a powerful Cabernet Sauvignon with enormous structure and tannin.
Perhaps the winemaker wants more influence from the wood and the development that comes with smaller barrels.
Barrique might make perfect sense.
Or perhaps the producer wants some of those effects but in a more restrained way.
Maybe a tonneau is the answer.
But even those examples are dangerous.
There are extraordinary Sangiovese wines aged in smaller barrels. And beautiful Cabernet-based wines matured in larger vessels.
Wine refuses to follow simple rules.
The Best Oak May Be the Oak You Don't Notice
When I taste a wine, I don't necessarily want to think:
"Ah! French barrique!"
I want to taste the wine.
The grape. The place. The vintage. The person who made it.
Oak can bring structure, complexity, texture and extraordinary ageing potential.
But it can also become a very loud voice.
And sometimes the most skilful winemaking is knowing when to let that voice whisper.
Next Time You're in a Tuscan Cellar...
Look at the barrels.
Really look.
Are they enormous botti?
Small barriques? Tonneaux?
Do they look brand new or decades old?
Can you spot a colmatore sitting on top of one of the old botti?
Ask the winemaker what kind of oak they use.
Ask how old the barrels are.
Ask how large they are.
Ask about the toast.
And most importantly:
Ask why.
Because once you start asking those questions, those wooden vessels stop being picturesque cellar decorations.
They become part of the story of the wine.
And perhaps that's the most important thing to remember.
Oak isn't a recipe.
It's a tool.
And the fascinating question isn't whether a Tuscan winemaker uses an enormous old botte, a 500-litre tonneau or a little French barrique.
It's why.
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