An Old Mosel Barrel
An old Mosel barrel, around 90 years old, in the sixteenth-century cellar of Weingut Günther Steinmetz in Brauneberg.
The Fuder (also known as Fuderfaß) is the typical Mosel barrel, about 1,000 liters, used for fermenting or maturing wine or both. The oak traditionally comes from the local forests in the neighboring hills of the Eifel or Hunsrück. Each barrel (Faß) was precisely measured with the exact liters branded on one end.
Besides the traditional Fuder, cellars often were stocked with Halbfuder (“half-ton,” holding circa 500 liters) or Doppelfuder (“double-ton”) and even smaller barrels in addition to much larger ones, such as 35-hectoliter tons, which were mainly used for storing wine. The oak Fuder allows for some oxygenation and is an ideal vessel for fermenting Riesling, especially in a deep, cool, vaulted Mosel cellar. One Fuder is around 1,300 bottles. Today more and more producers, especially with modern installations, have gone to stainless-steel tanks, for they are easier to clean, maintain, and control temperature. Among the producers in our portfolio, Stein, Clemens Busch, Günther Steinmetz, and Peter Lauer still use Fuderfässer along with tanks. Other notable advocates of Fuder, whom we admire, include Hofgut Falkenstein, Ansgar Clüsserath, and Weiser-Künstler.
Before the advent of pumps, tradesmen, known as Schröter, specialized in moving the heavy (back then) hand-split oak barrels in and out of cellars—an arduous task. Barrels and, in some instances, cases of wine were sold and transported by horse- or ox-drawn carts as well as by ship or train. In the 1920s or ’30s domaine-bottling was less common than today.
Local coopers (Küfer) on the Mosel, Saar, and Ruwer have practically become obsolete, despite a movement back to Fuder among some quality-conscious producers. Carl von Schubert at Maximin Grünhaus, for example, recently had some new Fuderfässer (neatly painted with green trim) made from his own Grünhaus forest by an old cooper based in the nearby Ruwer village of Kasel. His Pinot Blanc goes in the new Fuder the first few vintages to leech out the wood flavors. Otherwise, finding good used barrels has become difficult. They need to be properly checked so as not to impart musty off-smells or -flavors in the wine. And some producers’ barrels have a taint from the use of sorbic acid, once popular in killing yeasts, which gives off a flowery odor, often described as geraniums, and should never be used in making wine.
Another Fuder in the cellar of Weingut Günther Steinmetz.
Certain Mosel producers prefer—even for their Rieslings—smaller secondhand (rarely new) wooden barrels, such as 550- to 600-liter demi-muids or 228-liter Burgundian pièces, because they are easier to handle and better for smaller volumes.
On the Rhine the standard 1,200-liter oval barrels are called Stück, which also come in the approximately 600-liter Halbstück or 2,400-liter Doppelstück. Two of the best-known coopers in Europe are Hösch, a small cooperage in the Nahe specializing in handmade barrels, and the Austrian company Stockinger. At Weingut Dr. Siemens on the Saar, for instance, they have from each cooperative both Stück and Doppelstück.
Tags: Fuder, Günther Steinmetz