Staves with the BOUTES quality guarantee

Boutes now offers staves created from the same wood which we use to make our barrels, with an equally rigorous manufacturing process. A move towards diversification which is all about quality.

A new product has recently been added to the Boutes range: staves, produced to the same rigorous criteria as our branded barrels. “Our aim is not to compete with the major players who have been trading in this sort of alternative product for a long time, and in great quantities”, explains Julien Ségura, Director of Sales and Marketing at Boutes. “In developing our range of staves, our aim was to meet the demands of some of our international customers, who were very satisfied with the organoleptic properties of our barrels and wanted to find these same qualities in products used in the production of wines which are not barrel-matured.”

Boutes Staves are in no way inferior to the familiar Boutes quality standard. “We drew upon our experience and expertise as coopers to develop a range of staves which shouldn't be considered as ‘alternative products’”, continues Julien Ségura. “but rather as cooperage accessories. This diversification allows us to promote the reputation of a high-quality primary material which we already possess. Of all the ‘alternative’ products, staves are those which are most similar to our barrels in terms of the quality of the wood, and that’s why they are the only such product that we offer.”

The timber used to produce Boutes staves is exactly the same as that which goes to make our barrels. In both cases, their quality is the result of a rigorous selection policy. Produced from the stavewood-standard timber used in barrel-making, our staves are dried and matured in the open air for a period of 6 to 24 months.

In order to ensure the consistency of the desired aromatic profile, we toast our staves in an infra-red heat tunnel, and not in a traditional oven. We can thus offer various levels of toast. As Julien Ségura explains: “Varying the speed at which the staves pass through the tunnel, and the intensity of the infra-red waves, allows us to create a product which corresponds very precisely to the client’s wishes.”

Boutes Staves measure 95 cm by 5 cm, with a thickness of 1 cm. They are delivered in thermo-sealed packs of 22. Each packet represents a total contact surface area of 2.5 m², with each packet providing enough staves for 1.3 barrels.

Using staves in the maturing of wine is, of course, not the same as authentic barrel-maturing. Staves do not allow for such a precise oxygenation, but they do have a genuine effect on the aromatic complexity, volume and structure of a wine. This type of product is aimed at types of wine not usually matured in barrels. The biggest markets for staves are the USA and southern hemisphere wine producers, such as Australia, South Africa and New-Zealand. But this practice has been making some progress in France since the regulations governing wine-making were modified to allow the use of staves under certain conditions. In any case, the use of this type of product in wine-making is always subject to the legislation in force in your country and region of production!