How Many Bottles of Wine In A Barrel?

Whilst the question of how many bottles of wine can you get in a case is a somewhat straightforward one, could you answer the question:

How many bottles of wine are in a barrel?

It may seem a silly question, but a lot of wines can be fermented and aged in barrels and it’s important that the winemaker knows how many bottles they can expect to get from each barrel in their winery. It helps the winemaker to plan their bottle sales for the coming year ahead.

It’s also a fun fact to surprise people with.

So let’s find out how many bottles make up a barrel of wine...

How Many Bottles In a Barrel of Wine?

You can get 300 bottles of wine from 1 wine barrel.

How did we figure that out?

Well let’s take a look at the maths involved:

• A typical wine barrel holds 225 litres, or 59 gallons, of liquid.
• As a rule, barrels are consistently the same size across the wine industry, which comes in handy when answering these sorts of questions.
• A standard wine bottle is 750ml in capacity and therefore you can get 300 bottles (or 50 x 6 bottle cases) of wine from each barrel.

Here's all the details in a easy to read table:

How Many Cases of Wine In A Barrel?

A standard wine bottle is 750ml in capacity and therefore you can get 50 x 6 bottle cases or 25 x 6 bottle cases of wine from each barrel.

What are the Wine Bottle Sizes?

Whilst chances are that wine barrels are the same size, there are lots of different sizes of wine bottle and this can affect how many bottles you would get from a wine barrel.

The most common wine bottle size is 750ml and this is the size you would find in most stores and restaurants.

It helps to ensure consistency across the industry.

But sometimes 750ml just isn’t enough, and that’s when the bigger wine bottles come in.

• A magnum is the name for a bottle that holds 1.5 litres, or two bottles of wine. You would get 150 magnums out of 1 wine barrel.
• A jeroboam is twice that again. It holds 3 litres, or the equivalent of four bottles of wine. You would get 75 jeroboams out of 1 wine barrel.

These size bottles are great for parties and large gatherings, but remember a bigger bottle requires bigger storage space.

Why Are Wines Aged In Barrels?

Now you know how many bottles of wine you can get out of a wine barrel, why is wine aged in wine barrels in the first place?

Well before glass was invented wood was all the rage.

But wooden barrels weren’t just convenient, it turns out that ageing wine in barrels can help to mature the wine and develop lots of interesting tertiary flavours.

Ageing wine in barrels can also help to ensure a wine is suitable for long term storage and cellaring.

Most wines that are bought to age and develop over the years as investment bottles have seen some time in oak during their wine making process. Oak helps to develop tannins in a wine which in turn give a wine structure for long term cellaring.

The larger the wine barrel, or the older the barrel, the less of an effect it will have on the wine inside. And whilst barrels may be a similar size, there are lots of different ages and materials used to make them.

This is why it is important to know the differences between the types of wine barrels that your wine can be aged in.

So what type of wine barrels can you get?

What Types of Wine Barrels Can You Get?

A lot of wine is aged in barrels, but did you know that there are different types of wine barrels on top of all that?

So whilst you may be able to get the same amount of wine from each barrel, the flavours of each wine may differ depending on the type of barrel.

So now you know how many wine bottles you can get from a bottle, let's take a look at the different types of barrels you might see in a winery.

• Oak barrels - Historically used for convenience, the merits of using oak in ageing wine means it’s still a common material in most modern day wineries. Most oak barrels used in winemaking are made using French or American oak, although French oak is the more popular of the two. Oak imparts lots of lovely flavours into a wine including perfumed vanilla and spicy clove.
• Concrete barrels - Concrete barrels are porous, which means that oxygen can move through the material. Oak works in a similar way so concrete is sometimes used as an alternative to wood in more eco conscious wineries, reducing the amount of timber needed. Concrete barrels are great for slowly oxidising a wine without imparting too many “wooden” flavours, Although some wines, such as Chardonnay, benefit from having oakier characteristics.
• Clay barrels - Clay barrels are some of the oldest types of barrels and were frequently used in the most ancient examples of winemaking. So old in fact that they predate oak and often go by the term vessel or pots, instead of barrels. Using clay in winemaking allows the fruit to shine, and clay vessels often get used in a lot of natural wine production. It’s worth noting that these pots will differ in size from traditional oak barrels.
• Stainless Steel - Not a barrel per se, but stainless steel is used a lot in wineries for fermentation and ageing. Using stainless steel creates lots of fruit forward wines, as no oxygen is able to reach the wine whilst it is ageing.

Having lots of different options for ageing, fermenting and storing wine makes for an interesting and varied wine industry - ensuring no wine is ever alike.

Before You Go... 

We hope you enjoyed learning all about how many bottles of wine are in a barrel.

Read our next article about how many bottles of wine are in a case of wine...

How Many Bottles In A Case Of Wine (Ultimate Guide)

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments, or email us at info@expertwinestorage.co.uk

If you want to learn more about interesting wine info, consider our related blog posts: Wine Info

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