Modern Cooperage

When Jon Roleder sold his previous company over a decade ago, he embarked on a journey that was as unexpected as it was transformative. Relocating to Napa Valley, he envisioned a life immersed in the art of winemaking. However, he quickly realized that producing quality wine came with a significant challenge: the high cost and limited lifespan of traditional oak barrels. The barrel—an emblem of the wine and spirits industry—presented a paradox. Its traditional wood construction and aging limitations conflicted with the growing demand for a more sustainable, flexible, and cost-efficient production process. As a manufacturing engineer, Roleder recognized an opportunity to innovate.

From this realization, Modern Cooperage was born.

At the core of Modern Cooperage lies a groundbreaking innovation: a patented stainless-steel barrel equipped with an internal carousel that holds up to 20 oak staves. Unlike traditional wooden barrels, Roleder’s design offers unprecedented durability and control, solving challenges the industry has faced for over two millennia. As winemakers and distillers grapple with rising costs due to inflation and operational expenses, Modern Cooperage provides an efficient, sustainable alternative that prioritizes quality while alleviating financial pressures.

“In 2024, as the beverage industry faces fresh economic challenges, our customer-centric innovation is transforming how wineries and distilleries can continue to thrive,” says Michael Bell, Chief Operating Officer of Modern Cooperage.

Ensuring Sustainability in the Production Process

Modern Cooperage’s stainless-steel barrel addresses long-standing issues in the industry, particularly the limitations of traditional wood barrels. Roleder’s design evolved over time to enhance durability, minimize maintenance, and significantly reduce water usage—a critical factor for sustainability in production.

One of the most significant challenges was replicating the oxygen transfer traditionally facilitated by wooden barrels. Roleder developed an innovative micro-oxygenation membrane, allowing precise oxygen control comparable to that of traditional barrels. This ensures the integrity of fermentation and aging processes while eliminating the excessive water, time, and labor required to clean and sterilize wooden barrels.

“We now offer winemakers and distillers a level of control over their aging process that was previously unimaginable,” says Bell.

Advancing Customization in Barrel Aging

A standout feature of Modern Cooperage barrels is their ability to regulate temperature with precision, a unique advancement in the industry. Integrated jacketed hoops allow glycol or water circulation to maintain exact temperatures, even in storage facilities without climate control. By preventing temperature fluctuations, winemakers can avoid issues such as stalled fermentations, while distillers gain precise control over aging profiles. These temperature-controlled barrels can also be linked in sets, optimizing storage for larger facilities.

Modern Cooperage barrels also offer unparalleled customization options. Clients can select from premium French and American oak staves with various toast levels and thicknesses, seasoned for two to four years. This flexibility enables wineries and distilleries to craft rich, distinctive oak profiles at a fraction of the cost of traditional barrels.

Producers can even experiment by combining different staves - such as toasted French oak with American oak - within the same barrel to create multidimensional flavor profiles. Modern Cooperage also offers Hungarian and even Japanese Mizunara Oak options that can be used alone or combined for multidimensional flavors. During the aging process, they can modify the blend, adding or removing staves to adapt to evolving tastes or production goals.
Providing High-Quality Oak Flavor Profiles

Adding to the innovation is Modern Cooperage’s patented stirring paddle, which simplifies the labor-intensive process of bâtonnage (stirring the lees). This process, essential for developing texture and flavor in wine, is completed in seconds with the paddle.

For spirits, the paddle enhances wood integration, allowing products like whiskey to absorb flavors from finishing staves—such as Cognac or Sherry—far more quickly than traditional methods. This technology empowers producers to achieve complex, well-rounded flavor profiles in months instead of years, a significant advantage for younger brands competing in a crowded market.

Modern Cooperage also champions sustainability by maximizing the use of oak, a resource that takes centuries to replenish. Traditional methods yield only three to five barrels from a single 180-year-old French oak tree, with much of the wood wasted in the quarter-sawing process. In contrast, Modern Cooperage’s design uses oak staves within a stainless-steel structure, enabling the same tree to produce material for up to 300 barrels. This approach conserves resources while delivering premium oak flavor profiles to clients.

Helping Replicate Products with Consistency

Modern Cooperage barrels also address the “Angels’ Share,” the evaporation loss that occurs during aging. Traditional barrels can lose significant liquid volume, requiring frequent “topping off” to preserve flavor integrity. The micro-oxygenation membrane in Modern Cooperage barrels reduces this evaporation, preserving more liquid and enhancing yield.

“Not only does this increase yield, but it also reduces labor, lowering production costs per bottle,” explains Bell.

Modern Cooperage’s innovations have already made a lasting impact. A Napa Valley winery known for its ultra premium Cabernet Sauvignon experimented with barrels featuring staves from distinct French forest regions such as Allier, Vosges, Troncais, Fontainebleau, and Saulieu. The resulting wines exhibited subtle yet complex differences in flavor, achieved in just two months—a process that traditionally would have taken far longer. These advancements allow winemakers to explore unique oaking profiles and elevate their craft.

A Future of Innovation and Tradition

Beyond technology and sustainability, Modern Cooperage aims to bridge the gap between innovation and tradition. In an industry steeped in heritage, many winemakers are hesitant to move away from centuries-old methods. Modern Cooperage barrels demonstrate that tradition and technology can coexist, empowering producers to maintain consistency and quality while experimenting with confidence.

As the beverage industry looks to the future, Modern Cooperage stands as a beacon of innovation and respect for the art of barrel-aging. For winemakers and distillers navigating uncertain times, this technology-driven approach not only preserves their craft but enhances it. By elevating quality, reducing costs, and fostering creativity, Modern Cooperage is forging new paths in an industry as dynamic as the flavors it produces.