Made from the oak staves of real wine barrels, these wine barrel chandeliers are done making wine. Instead, they gave up the grapes and have been wired to shed light over your dining room table. Or you can hang a dozen chandeliers over a red carpet to make a grand entrance to your home. Either way they will add vintage charm to your space.
Wine Barrel Chandeliers
The traditional method of making barrels is to hand split the oak into staves, or strips, along the grain. After the oak is split, it must be seasoned, or dried, outdoors while exposed to the natural elements. This process can take between 10 to 36 months during which time the harshest tannins from the wood are leached out. Once the staves are removed, the tannins can be seen as a dark gray residue on the ground. The longer the wood is allowed to season the more potential for the wine to be soft. This can be a costly process waiting for the wood to season so some wineries opt for kiln dried wood. This alternative is much faster but it doesn’t soften the wood or the tannins like outdoor seasoning.
Once the staves are seasoned they are heated until pliable. They are then bent into the shape of a wine barrel and held together with iron rings. It generally takes a full day to make one barrel. Not an easy process so you can understand why some wineries have switched to using oak wood chips for aging wine more quickly while still maintaining the desired wood aroma with vanilla flavors. Unfortunately, once the wine is fermented the oak barrel loses much of it’s tannins and flavor. So not to waste a good wine barrel, the oak staves have been repurposed into wine barrel chandeliers. Why throw out a good barrel when it can look this good. Now raise your glass and make a toast.
Click HERE to view Wine Barrel Chandeliers at HudsonGoods.com. Click Hip Lighting, Furniture Frenzy, Industrial Strength or Chairs Gone Wild for more interior home design.
