Interesting article by Jancis on the oak cooperage from FranzStockinger:
In Waidhofen/Austria. His barrels are regarded as the RollsRoyce of oak. Doesn’t provide a whole lot of details from Franz. There are a few other articles that provide a bit more detail if you search them out.
This is the oak that Morgan uses in his Staves of Waidhofen SauvBlanc, one of the best SB’s in Calif. Imported by RajParr and ?? Here in the US. I don’t know of what other winemakers use Stockinger.
Tom
I would also be interested in a list of producers who use Stockinger. On the last Bedrock Podcast, they mention only being allocated one barrel a year, so I can’t imagine it’s too many.
Stockinger’s larger barrels are fairly common in Italy, I have a number of producers who use them. They have an excellent reputation.
The new Promontory winery uses larger sizes.
Kosta Browne had some tanks that were ruined by floods.
Larger casks are popular in Italy, not so much here.
We have 2 600L Stockinger barrels. They are the only new oak we have ever purchased. They are beautiful- I hope to add more Stockinger 600Ls down the road. We had been blending them in the Familiar since 2016 but put a part of our 2019 Evangelho Mourvèdre in one after 3 uses for Familiar.
Stockinger barrels are things of beauty- particularly for whites wines. We have a single SB called “Staves of Waidhofen” that is done entirely in Stockinger barrels and use them for SB, Semillon and Chardonnay as well. We have been lucky to be given a range of sizes, from 228 liter to 600 liter demi-muids and they are all beautifully built and meant for the long-haul. Though barrels are generally available it is the large format ovals and rounds that have a very long waiting list (hard, when you are competing against producers like Conterno for them). We do have some ovals that Matthias Stockinger made for us along with 2 ton open-top tanks that are among our favorites in the winery. Cannot wait to visit them once such things are allowed again.