Vintage Wine Barrel Flooring by Fontenay Wood

A true love for wine runs deep. The wine industry feels more like the art industry than then food and beverage industry, with its sommeliers, wine auctions at Sotheby’s and a slew of high tech equipment for proper storage. Custom designed wine cellars are a hot commodity in homes, where materials with an old world romance can transform a drinking problem into a museum quality collection. There is something warm and welcoming about the interior finishes associated with a wine cellar that should not be limited to the cellar alone.

Cooperage collection. Designed by Fontenay Wood.

I think its safe to say most people know wine is fermented in barrels. The question is what happens to the barrels after they are used. It turns out reusing wine barrels for future wine making is a debated process that creates wine with tainted results. Companies are dedicating time and technology to developing methods to shave off layers of wood to make reuse possible. Not only are new wine barrels expensive ($700 for French Oak), but the supply of woods for these barrels is becoming scarce. Reclaimed barrels can be purchased for $50 a barrel, but the jury is still out on the desirability of these barrels.

Fontenay Wood has created a line of flooring made from reclaimed wine barrels. The Cooperage collection uses the head of the barrel to display the markings unique to the wines stored inside. The Wine Infusion collection takes the unmarked pieces of wood and shows off the color variation that has developed during the wine making process. The Stave collection uses the outer sides of the barrel where the hoops have imprinted a distinct pattern. All of the available options have a rich quality comparable to the complexity of the wine that its collectors love.