NEW BARRELS & VATS
While we understand that the use of wood for maturation of wine, spirits and beer is a craft from the past, we strongly believe that it is also trade for the future. We’re driven by passion and disposition to create this future.
NAO hand-made barrels are manufactured with the finest Cognac barrel-craft tradition, merged with youth, liveliness and creativity. First we carefully select premium quality wood from exclusive forests of known origin and pedigree. Our wood is naturally open-air dried in the Poitou-Charentes micro-climate and its 2400 sunshine hours per year. This region benefits from just enough rainfall (equivalent to 850mm of average rainfall per year), mild temperatures during winter months, blended with long hours of sunshine and pleasantly warm summers (perfect conditions for wood seasoning).
Our careful control of the wood's natural seasoning prosess, allows us to adjust the wood character to achieve the exact traditional Giraud-Galiana profile we strive for. We have set demanding quality standards for all of the key operations in the creation of our barrels: Wood selection, Toasting & Charring (infra-red control), Pressure-testing, Finishing / Inspection and Packaging. It is only after all these rigorous controls that we allow our barrels to carry the Giraud-Galiana brand mark as a guarantee of our tradition and quality.
OAK BARRELS
GIRAUD-GALIANA VS
VS
Very Special blend/mix of oak wood selected from specific forests for consistency and complexity.
Click to download technical data sheet.
GIRAUD-GALIANA XOV
XOV
Extra Old Vintage (XOV) - is a blend of hand-selected oak staves showing the appropriate features of having been matured for an additional time in the open-air. This extended seasoning time endows the wood with a greater ability to comply with the most demanding winemaking standards.
Click to download technical data sheet.
GIRAUD-GALIANA CARPATHIAN
Especially selected oak from the remote foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. This oak type gives the wine or spirits a superior, balanced structure, with excellent mouthfeel and flavor profile.
Click to download technical data sheet.
GIRAUD-GALIANA CAUCASIAN
Wood from the Northern slopes of Caucasian Mountains and air-dried in France. Soft tannins and graceful flavor impact are the main features of our Caucasian oak barrels, showing themselves to be perfect for fruity or mineral profiles.
Click to download technical data sheet.
GIRAUD-GALIANA IBERIAN
With high levels of ellagic-acid and structural tannins, Iberian oak works well as a structural element and colour benefactor for spirits. High levels of Synapaldehyde and Furfural compounds brings some out-of-the-box caramel, almond and burnt wood flavors.
Click to download technical data sheet.
OTHER WOODS
GIRAUD-GALIANA CHESTNUT
chestnut
Historically used for storage of wine or brandy due to low price and widespread availability, recent investigation around this wood shows very interesting levels of tannins and gallic acid, giving chestnut a great ability to stabilise colour in wine and adding antioxidant properties (high level of polyphenols). On a separate note, the porosity of this wood allows faster oxidation with more oxygen being transported to the liquid (which can be desirable in some circumstances and for some products).
GIRAUD-GALIANA CHERRY
wild cherry
Wild Cherry trees cut from French forests. This wood brings rich red fruit notes. It works mostly as a flavour agent. Fit for certain types of red wine or spirits.
GIRAUD-GALIANA ACACIA
acacia
Alsol from French forests, Acacia wood brings an elegant and smooth floral profile. It complements certain types of white wine and light style spirits.
GIRAUD-GALIANA ASH
ash
A new alternative for open-minded winemakers, distillers and brewers. Ash brings a creamy fresh botanical profile with spicy undernotes.
GIRAUD-GALIANA HYBRID SERIES
hybrid
You can create a barrel with a blend of different woods to create different flavours, mouth sensations and complexity. Contact our sales team for options and more details and we will help you to create unique flavours through wood!
OTHER OPTIONS
STEAM BENDING
Creating barrels suitable for the maturation of white wine is a refined complex process. Steam bending technology preserves the richness and finesse of the wood while reducing the tannic impact. For those who are searching to respect of the grape variety, terroir or freshness.
DOUBLE TOAST
Double Toast is carried out in two different stages and is mostly used for wines needing or seeking powerful oak notes. It adds length, fattier palate sensations and complex aromatic richness with unique toasted notes, coco beans, toffee and nougat.
BLACK HEAD®
black head®
The oak barrel has changed very little in the last 2000 years. That is until Giraud invented the revolutionary Black Head® Barrel. Giraud's secret formula is an advanced heat treatment process for the barrel head-sets. The treated wood is darkened all the way through and gains an intense aroma. This creates a unique and complex flavor profile, quite different from a regular barrel.
The Black Head® breakthrough gives another dimension to the oak maturation of wines and spirits. Imagine the edge Black Head® could give your product. Customize your barrels further by adding VS or XOV wood mixes to your Black Head® barrels.
NEW VATS & OUTSIZED CASKS
GIRAUD-GALIANA VATS & OUTSIZE CASKS
NAO can design and build vats and outsized casks to your specification. We have master craftsmen with experience of creating and installing custom sized vats for our customers. Fabrication is done in France, but we can deliver and install worldwide to order. We have already deployed our teams to carry out installations in the USA and UK.
As these items are specific for each customer, please contact us to request a quote and we will get back to you shortly.