While it’s hard to pinpoint the exact date that wooden barrels started to be used in Italy, we do know that barrels become increasingly important as the Roman Empire expanded. Wine was paramount to Roman identity, and to transport large amount of wine across an empire, merchants needed a more efficient system than the easily breakable amphorae they were using. Romans likely adopted the use of wooden barrels from the Celts sometime in the 3rd century BCE. They were larger, wouldn’t break like clay vessels, could be rolled during transport, and used as a vessel for both fermentation and refining.
But oak was not always the primary wood used for barrels. Throughout wine history, vintners and merchants have often used wood from locally available species. In Italy, this often meant chestnut, cherry, and acacia. By the 1960s, the use of chestnut became rare as industrial winemakers started to favor steel, resin, and large oak barrels along with international grape varieties.
Chestnut is one of the most common tres in the Castelli Romani, a group of towns perched beside two volcanic crater lakes. The forests were planted in the 19th century for food and wine production. They also provided wood for barrels and stakes in the vineyards. It created a circular, localized economy. The town Albano Laziale was the center of barrel-making activity. Before 1960, it was home to at least ten workshops busily making barrels for local winemakers. Today, only one remains, and its proprietor, Alfredo Sannibale, is a mentor to a new generation of winemakers keen to preserve his tradition.
When he started his career, there were nine other barrel workshops in the area. But things started to change with the post-war economy.
“The small producers almost disappeared,” says Sannibale. “Before, producers had small plots of one to three acres and made a small amount of wine. Then the industrial producers moved in and planted huge acreages of vines. The small producers could not hold on.”
His barrels no longer in demand, Alfred retired. But not for long. In 2014, Daniele Presuti and Chiara Bianchi of Cantina Ribelà bought their vineyards and started building their cantina and home, hoping to make good wine informed by deep and meaningful anthropological research into the area’s wine. They came across a book by Simona Soprano and learned about Alfredo Sannibale. They ordered their first barrel from him in 2016. Soon, other interested winemakers started commissioning work from him.
Most winemakers say they like what chestnut does to their wines. It facilitates a level of micro-oxygenation that helps the wines breathe and imparts an elegant tannic structure that helps the wine age. The element of using local wood and respecting tradition is also key to this revival.
“Using a living material like wood allows the wine to have a natural micro-oxygenation, which you must take care of manually,” explains Presuti. “It was fundamental to have found Alfredo, a craftsman from our area who takes care of the whole process, from the seasoning of the wood to delivery to the cellar. He reflected the coherence of making wine in an artisanal way and with local material and knowledge.”
Piero Riccardi of Cantina Reale Riccardi, whose grandfather made barrels for winemakers in Olevano Romano, says if the chestnut comes from poor, siliceous, or volcanic soils, it’s perfect for wine barrels.
“It is not true that it has rough or inelegant tannins,” he says. “It is really neutral compared to oak with its vanilla tannins. It’s certainly also more neutral than acacia, which gives the wine sweetness. This exceptional wood for wine has been forgotten.”
For Maria Enquist and Riccardo Magno of La Torretta, using chestnut barrels is a question of tradition. “It is a wine vessel with a very long tradition here, made from trees that grow in the Castelli Romani. Chestnut is a wood that lasts over time and withstands humidity well, and it doesn’t give too much flavor to the wine. It’s very suitable for the aging of white wines in general.”
A new generation is reviving a tradition that was almost lost to history. Hopefully, young people interested in wine culture will want to learn the skills he has preserved and Sannibale will have the opportunity to teach his skills to a new generation of barrel makers.
This piece was orignally published in a now defunct publication. Writing it has been the highlight of my wine writing career so I did not want his story to be unpublished. I hope you enjoy and share.
A very interesting article, and so good to hear of the revival of a craft. Thank you for sharing it again.
Love this article, Sarah! Thanks for sharing all this great info about chestnut barrels!