The ancestor of the fruiting pear, the Wild Pear is an attractive columnar tree, with plentiful white blossom in early spring and good autumn leaf colour. The pear trees can live up to 250 years.
The Wild Pear not only gives the golden yellow colour of your wine, but also sweetness, freshness and great tropical fruit salad aromas of lemon, melon, pear and cream.

Morus Alba, known as white mulberry, common mulberry and silkworm mulberry, is a fast-growing, small to medium-sized mulberry tree which grows to 10–20 m tall. It is generally a short-lived tree with a lifespan comparable to that of humans, although there are some specimens known to be more than 250 years old.
It is a very porous wood with a sweet scent, which gives the wine olfactory bouquet sensations reminiscent of honey and beeswax. In distillation it increases smoothness and color. It makes the color very eye-catching. The process is very fast.

The second fundamental stage in the selection of wood is the natural seasoning. This is the stage which allows the wood to reach its perfect chemical and physical stabilisation in the structure.

The logs are hand split along the grain of the wood . After splitting and surfacing, the staves are stored in the open where they dry naturally at least 36 months in order to attain proper seasoning. During this slow process left at the mercy of the weather, they age and lose their greener and more rustic tannins.

The exceptional site in the village of Trudovec offers the ideal climatic conditions for the wood – mild Mediterranean climate with hot summer , harsh winter, plenty of wind, cool air and clean mountain rain. All this parameters favour the ageing of our wood.

During the aging process, the development of sugars and acids is monitored.

It is important for Valoga to provide you with barrels that complement the quality and style of your wine.

A time – consuming and slow toasting method allows us to develop distinctive toast levels so as to match the types of wine that are aged in Valoga barrels in a more suitable manner. Toast levels are not only indicated by the surface colour of the oak, but more importantly, by the depth of the colour.

During this essential stage we make penetration of the heat in the heart of the staves and this lead to extraction of the polyphenols responsible for the freshy and rounded nature of the wine

In accordance with this specific distinction, our barrels are with four toasting levels:

• LIGHT TOASTING(LT)- highlights the fruity aromas
• MEDIUM TOASTING(MT) – fruity flavours are dominant
• MEDIUM PLUS TOASTING(MT+) – the fruity flavours blend with spicy and toasted flavours
• HEAVY TOASTING(HT) – spicy and toasted flavours are dominant

After aging, the staves are formed by machines into the proper shape and form for barrel assembly. After they are cut to the proper length, they are tapered at each end and beveled. Then they are planed on the outside, slightly hollowed on the inside and jointed by high precision.

After being inspected and selected, the staves are given to a cooper for assembly. At this essential stage of the manufacturing process, the handwork begins. Our craftsmen with irreplaceable experience and, above all, appreciation for work well done now adds their personal touch. The sharp-eyed cooper selects his staves, setting aside those that do not suit him. Then he assembles the staves inside a metal hoop that serves as the assembly jig. This operation, so spectacular in its speed and precision, is what the cooper calls the “mise en rose” or “raising the barrel”.