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Local oaks for local wine

Even today there are still wooden wine barrels. As in the past, the highest quality oak wood is used. This is also the case in Besigheim, where viticulture has a long tradition and great importance has been attached to the care of the oak forests for centuries. For 15 years, the town of Besigheim and the Felsengartenkellerei have been reuniting the local wine with the local oak trees. Recently, Tim Köstler, the new head of the Besigheim forest district since October, handed over oak trunks from the municipal forest to the operations manager of Felsengartenkellerei Sebastian Häußer.

Three men are engaged in conversation in a forested area, standing near a wooden barrel and a log with a wine bottle. The setting is surrounded by vibrant green foliage, creating a natural, outdoor atmosphere.

Sebastian Häußer (l.), Mayor Florian Bargmann and Tim Köstler (r.) toast the handover of the oak trunks (Ludwigsburg District Office).

For Tim Köstler, it is a special occasion that takes him to the Besigheim municipal forest near Ottmarsheim. He meets with Sebastian Häußer from Felsengartenkellerei and Besigheim's mayor Dr. Florian Bargmann to hand over eight oak trunks from the municipal forest to Felsengartenkellerei for barrel production. "These are particularly beautiful oaks. The trunks are thick, straight and knot-free, making them ideal for making barrels," he explains. This is also necessary, as even the smallest knot would cause the barrel produced to leak.

A lot of manual work and dexterity: barrels are made in Burgundy

The special tree trunks are handed over to the Felsengarten winery directly in the forest. This allows Häußer to see the quality of the trees for himself. It takes several years from the felling of the trees to the finished barrel. After a two-year drying period, the barrel staves - the longitudinal timbers - are bent with the help of fire and water. The fire also controls the toasting process, which has a decisive effect on the taste.

The production of oak barrels is an art that still requires a great deal of manual work, dexterity and patience. "Our barrels are made in Burgundy. The knowledge of how to properly process the oak trunks has been preserved there," reports Häußer. There is a slight sense of regret that the barrels cannot be made directly in the Ludwigsburg district.

Logs for barrels have been coming from local forests for 15 years

Häußer is very satisfied with the tree trunks from Besigheim. He is pleased with the long-standing cooperation with the forest district and the town of Besigheim, which owns the forest. True to the motto "local oaks for local wine", Felsengartenkellerei has been buying tree trunks from the local forest to produce barrels for 15 years now. A fact that Mayor Bargmann also approves of: "Besigheim is a wine town whose townscape is still strongly characterized by viticulture today. We are therefore very happy to support the local winegrowers." The finished barrique barrels are only filled with top-quality local wines, which are then sold as barrique wines.

Forester Köstler is pleased about the special use of the oaks. "So that a barrique barrel can be made from one of our oaks today, our ancestors looked after this oak for around 150 to 200 years," reports Köstler. He sees it as his responsibility to leave a forest for the next generation that offers both people and animals a place to retreat, but also provides the renewable raw material wood. And of all the uses of oak trunk wood, the production of wine barrels is probably one of the most beautiful.

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