Barrels and Bottles

The other day, I got to photograph Matthew Kirby who runs both A&K Cooperage and the Cooper’s Oak Winery in Higbee, Mo.

The winery is the only winery in the country that has barrel-making and wine-making facilities all on the same property.  Even cooler, the cooperage makes 95% of the oak barrels for Napa Valley’s Silver Oak Cellars.  If you know something about the wine industry, you know that Silver Oak makes a damn good bottle of wine (I don’t think they make a bottle below $75).  I found it interesting that most of their barrels come from this small town in Missouri.

Matthew was kind enough to let me bug him for most of the day and look over his shoulder as he made barrels, labeled bottles, and worked on his next batch of wine.  Here is the multimedia that ensued:

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/6843391 w=600&h=405]

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