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The Wine Merchants since 1802 |
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CHAMPAGNE-Opening & Bottle Sizes (and Bible classes)
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ROLLING OUT THE BARREL
There is a whole range of barrel sizes that are documented - some have clearly changed from a wooden vessel to one in another material. An invention of the Gauls, who were conveniently surrounded by prolific oak forests, and later adopted by the Romans and consequently almost everyone else, it is unsurprising that most sizes have French names. The Anglo Saxons used the same sort of systems without necessarily having the same measurements or names, which makes -and made- for a lot of confusion. As these barrel measures existed long before the invention of the Litre there is undoubtedly a sense of French revolutionary 'sorting out' to comply with the metric system. So we have listed French barrel sizes in both Litres and Imperial measurements, whilst UK sizes, many still familiar to those in the pub trade, remain with their Imperial measures. In their day barrels were at least as important for trade as the modern pallet. Indeed it is almost definitely through this importance that the barrel's benefits for ageing wine were discovered: Le Galopin (0.23Litres or roughly eight fluid ounces) La Chopine (0.46 Litres or a bit more than threequarters of a pint) La Pinte (0.93 Litres or a bit more than a pint and a half -confusing isn't it?) Le Pot (1.83 Litres or a bit mor than three pints) Le Setier (7.43 Litres or roughly one and a half gallons or thirteen pints) Le Broc (8 Litres or roughly one and a half gallons or fourteen pints) Pin (4.5 gallons) Le Petit Fût (50 Litres or 11 gallons) Firkin (9 gallons) Kilderkin (18 gallons) La Demi-pièce (110 Litres or 24 gallons) La Filette (134 Litres or 29 gallons) Barrel (36 gallons) Le Bussard (200 Litres or 44 gallons) La Pièce (220 Litres or 48 gallons ) La Barrique [Bordelaise] (225 Litres or 50 gallons) Le Muid (268 Litres or 59 gallons) Hogshead (34 gallons in imperial but generally larger under French terms up to 300 Litres or 66 gallons) Le Fût Puncheon (400 Litres or 88 gallons) La Pipe (400 Litres or 88 gallons) Butt (108 gallons when used for ale yet curiously 126 gallons when used for wine) Le Tonneau (originally a weight of 2000 pounds and used to indicate a ships capacity - hence tons) La Tonne (1000 Litres or 220 gallons) Le Foudre (More Than 11,500 Litres)
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