Cooper's Oak Winery and OAK Cooperage

Cooper's Oak Winery and OAK Cooperage, Duncan Family of Silver Oak, Visit and Tour

Heading to Kansas City for a family wedding, we decided to take a couple of extra days to drive and tour the backroads and byways traversing the state of Missouri. Our intent was to experience Missouri wine, visit several Missouri wine producers, tour the estates and vineyards, and see the wine regions to learn and understand their terroir, all things that exemplify Missouri wines. 

What we did not plan or anticipate, but what was one of the highlights of our entire trip, was a visit to, and tour of The Oak Cooperage in Higbee, Missouri. 

In retrospect, when one thinks of fine wines and the state of Missouri, what comes to mind, or should, is Missouri Oak, and its use in producing some of finest wine barrels for crafting and aging some of the finest wine labels from the world's best wine regions. 

We happened upon The Oak Cooperage (formerly known as A&K) passing through Higbee, Missouri. There, we met founder and artisan cooper Dale Kirby, who has produced handcrafted, American oak barrels for the wine, whiskey and bourbon industries since 1972. 

One of their largest and most prestigious customers, the well known Silver Oak, a leading Napa Valley producer of California Cabernet Sauvignon, purchased a 50 percent interest in the cooperage in 2000, after sourcing barrels from them for nearly 30 years. 

Silver Oak eventually acquired full ownership of the business in 2015, ensuring a continuous supply, based upon the philosophy of quality, excellence and continuous improvement in the time-honored craft of artisanal barrelmaking. The business was renamed OAK Cooperage, the confluence of the names, adding 'O' from Silver Oak, to the A and K of the original founders of the business.

Originally established as a keg business, the focus soon shifted to the production of 59-gallon American white oak wine barrels, sourced from the nearby forests of Central and Northern Missouri.

Building on the partnership with Silver Oak, they invested in sustainably forested Missouri timberland to maintain long-term barrel production. 

Silver Oak acquired full ownership, recognizing “an opportunity to maintain exacting barrel-making standards and secure a consistent supply of aged stave wood,” according to Tony LeBlanc, Silver Oak General Manager. “The flavors and textural components of American white oak from Central and Northern Missouri are the perfect balance of spice and vanilla flavors to complement the black fruit character of our wines.”

Silver Oak mural in the shop, handsigned by
Silver Oak founder, patriarch, Ray Duncan

OAK focuses on producing the highest quality classic 59-gallon American oak wine barrels for Silver Oak and other select producers. They also produce a small number of American and French Oak barrels for the whiskey and bourbon industries. Each barrel is handcrafted by a team of highly skilled, hard-working men and women who preserve and advance the time-honored craft of artisanal barrelmaking. The Higbee plant has several of the only fifty skilled coopers in the United States.

Finished barrels, the orderliness and conformity
of the bands an indication of quality
craftsmanship.

 

 

Dale now focuses on his other businesses, producing local sourced wines under the aptly named Cooper's Oak Winery label, Skullsplitter Distillery spirits, local philanthropies, and serving on the board of the regional electric cooperative. 

Dale Kirby's toolshop with extraordinary
extensive collection of handtools.

He was gracious with his time and took us on an extensive tour of the cooperage plant. Before we toured the plant he took us in his toolshop showing an amazing collection of hand tools used to produce barrels for decades (and centuries) before the mechanization with sophisticated automated power equipment. 

We then toured the plant and saw barrel assembly at each stage: a shipment of new oak arriving from a forestry/grower, the oak staves aging for three years outside so the rain can wash away the excess acids from the wood, the staves being cut and formed for barrel assembly, the initial stage assembled barrels being 'toasted' over an open flame for a precise amount of time according to the prescribed toast level (or char level in the case of whiskey/bourbon barrels), then the barrel being assembled and banded, then trimmed, finished and inspected.  

At each step, Dale had endless stories to tell and a joke or quip from a vast repertoire. 

 

The oak is aged for up to three years, ideally in the open to allow the elements
to wash away the acids in the wood. 

 

Founder and cooper, Dale Kirby, inspecting
the oak staves.

 

Partially assembled barrels staged to be 'toasted'. 

 

 

Toasting the wine barrels, charring in the case of whiskey
barrels, to exacting specifications, over open flames.

 

Rick and artisan cooper toasting the barrels.

 

See the video below of these processes ... 

Banding the barrel.

Trimming the barrel.

 

Finishing the barrels, testing and inspection.

Linda with Dale Kirby in barrel warehouse
and distribution center.

 
We then went back to the winery and distillery building and tasted the current offerings of Cooper's Oak wines, and Skullsplitter spirits and fruit drinks.

 Cooper's Oak wines and Skullsplitter spirits are packaged in re-usable Ball canning jars for utility and sustainability. 

What a fascinating and extraordinary opportunity to meet Dale Kirby, and see the Oak Cooperage, and to learn its history and place in putting Missouri Oak on the map, and in the ecco-system of notable fine wines.  

Watch this video ... barrel production in process ....