Wheat Paste In Barrel Production???

Says so in today's LATimes article.
Anybody know the wherefores & whyfores??
Tom

Tom, I've seen references to this in the current discussions about labeling wine with possible allergens. The FDA adopted the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act in 2004. It requires labels on every food or drink that contains one of eight major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soybeans.

The Santa Clara Press Democrat had an article about the subject recently. The article indicated that some barrel makers use wheat paste to seal barrels.

There's a news group in New Jersey who is investigating this question; there seems to be an issue for people with wheat allergens and for consumers of Kosher wines. The group has sent a survey around to a number of wineries to see what they know about the issue. So far, one response indicated that some barrel makers use the wheat paste instead of lime to seal barrels.

A bit of noise with little real info as far as I've seen. The information on fining with egg whites seems much more precise; I've seen warnings on New Zealand wine labels indicating that there may be egg white residue in the wine.

Regards, Bob

Tom, here's a bit more on using wheat paste when making wine barrels:

After the bending and heating of the staves, a very precise machining step is necessary to trim the ends of the staves and to cut the "croze," the groove in the staves that receives the barrel heads. Custom cut to fit the croze, the heads are produced with every respect of the most traditional rules for barrel making. Parts are assembled exclusively with dowels and natural, soft, flexible and rot-proof river reed to provide a perfect seal.

The cooper then finishes the assembly of his barrel. The body is set up and the heads fitted into the crozes that have been coated with a paste of wheat flour. Then comes the final hooping, put in place with a large mallet.

The author indicates that the "information is adapted from the famous French cooperage Seguin Moreau, where many premium California wineries … including Clos du Bois … source French oak barrels."

There are a number of other references to this technique on other websites.

Regards, Bob

Hi Tom,
Wheat-flour paste is used when fitting the barrel heads.

Salute
Sorry Bob didn't see your post.

Bob,
Isn’t wheat-flour paste an ancient form of glue or adhesion?

Salute

We used to make paste in our country school using white flour, and I was fascinated to see how many old books outline the use of white flour past in all sorts of applications -- setting bones, administering medicines, holding metals together during fabrication, etc.

Search on "white flour paste" in Google Books -- it sure was used in a number of adhesive applications over the years.

I've been known to use wheat paste to apply labels to my home made wines. The stick very nicely and are easy to soak off when I'm ready to re-use the bottle for the next batch. Also, I believe most wallpaper paste is wheat based.

I believe wheat-flour paste is mold-free, this makes it ideal for wallpaper paste and barrel making.

Salute

...and I'm guessing you'd need some serious sensitivity to gluten to detect it in wine aged in barrels glued with wheat paste.