Almost from a different era, but today still tapping to the rhythm of cellar life with his hammer, Alain Nunes, the cooper of Château Margaux after René, his father, interrupts his gesture to welcome in the group of visitors. He knows that his age-old craft arouses genuine curiosity and is always happy and ready to answer whatever questions people may have.

At a rate of three barrels assembled per day, he cannot supply more than a third of our annual needs. We do not wish him to do so anyway and buy the majority of our barrels every year from five or six great cooperages in Bordeaux and Cognac. No other factor of quality, whether it be the origin of the oak, amount of seasoning of the staves, type of toast etc. counts as much. What matters most is diversity. It is not necessarily from one single forest, even if it is reputed to be the best, that you can extract the best 'merrains', those pieces of split oak from which the staves of the barrel come, but from several of them, whose differences will combine to add greater complexity.

The search for oaky character has led to speculation of many kinds, to such a degree that it is sometimes forgotten that oak's fate is to disappear in the wine so as better to serve it.

Such is the function of our cooperage, which is an integral part of the cellars, but doesn't claim to be the most important one. It testifies to our constant but measured interest in barrels, which bring a necessary but not essential contribution to the quality of wine. It is lastly the living symbol of a culture which continues to place man in its centre, just as Alain Nunes operates in the middle of his workshop.