Our ambition is to ensure that barrels become a modern winemaking instrument, combining technological evolution with scientific support from winemakers and expertise of our coopers.
The art of cooperage is always allied with analytical and scientific knowledge of wood. An inflexible control of origin and of the different batches of wood is crucial. In the early 90’s, so far with an own onsite stave-mill, J. Dias starts working with a few chosen and experienced wood buyers in order to select only perfect slow grown oak trees from only Certified Forests. The oak logs are then processed at our associate stave mills.
All the wood is then transferred to our open-air seasoning yard in Paramos, selected and divided by specific criteria such as botanical specie, macro-porosity and seasoning cycle. Water, sunlight and temperature will then cause breakdown of oak components (lignin, hemicelluloses, cellulose and tannins). Seasoning quality standards are never miss-regarded at J. Dias.
Sleeping in Paramos, at the Portuguese coast and very close to the Atlantic Ocean, our wood exposed to very particular weather conditions (high humidity levels and stable temperature along the year) gets a very own and special profile.
While the selection and air seasoning of the oak wood are vital aspects, there’s still another key element that will determine the quality of a wine barrel and that is the heat treatment / toasting protocol.
Using only natural fire, fueled by oak chips and pieces (that come out from the production of staves), we manage time and temperature (infra-red monitored) combinations that will determine the kind and consistency of flavors.
At J. Dias all barrels are toasted to precise formulas.