Frustration

[Boatboy24]

I finally had time to attempt to fill my new Vadai with actual wine today, only to find that I had been sent what appears to be a 30 litre barrel,instead of the 23 I had ordered. I had transferred my California Grand Red from my "old" barrel into the new after a month to allow for my Chilean juice Malbec to get a full 3-4 months in that older barrel. Unfortunately, I realized after racking that I was well, well short of filling the new barrel. After adding two bottles of commercial North Coast red blends (that I fortunately had on hand), I was still what appeared to be 3-4 more bottles short. This whole order has been incredibly frustrating. First, my order didnt go through properly over the web site and I lost two weeks trying to sort that out. Next, the barrel stand I ordered with the barrel arrived broken and completely unsalvagable. I've been waiting over 3 weeks for its replacement and still don't have it. Now today's issue. I had to rack the wine back into the old barrel, then clean everything up. Spent well over an hour to accomplish nothing. Ugh! OK, venting over.

Upon measuring the dimensions of two barrels, the larger is only a half inch longer than the smaller, and the heads are only a half inch taller.

Moral of the story: make sure your barrel holds as much as you think it should.

 

[ibglowin]

Wow, if that is a 30L and your making kits only your have a problem on your hands as you will always be short 7-8 bottles minimum. I would see about returning it and getting the right one if possible.

 

[Boatboy24]

I'm going to contact MoreWine tomorrow to follow up on the missing stand, and the size discrepancy. I'd love a 30L barrel, but I just can't keep one full right now. I have (or hoped to have) one 23L for kits and wanted one for juice buckets/grapes. But I still figure I'm going to be at/near 6gal per batch. I'd keep the 30, but just don't think I can use it at this point. MoreWine's customer service has been pretty good in my experience, so hopefully we can get this right fairly quickly.

 

[ibglowin]

I have nothing but 23L barrels (4) as that's what kits make and thats the size of my carboys. I have had my eye on a 40L barrel however as it would be perfect to fill two carboys with a gallon leftover for top-up's.

 

[Rocky]

BB24, just curious. Did you order from MoreWine and not directly from Vadai? If you did so, may I ask why. Not criticizing, just wondering.

 

[ibglowin]

Rocky, I have had MUCH better luck ordering from Morewine than Vadai. I have ordered 2 form each. The ones from Morewine were MUCH higher quality (tightly sealed) AND the shipping was MUCH cheaper to boot!

 

[chrisjw]

Doesn't look like MoreWine sells a 30l Vadai but they do give a warning on all Vadai barrels that the sizes may be 10% bigger than the stated volume. It might be better to buy the 20l Vadai. If it turns out to be 22l you will probably be in good shape. If it turns out to be 20l then you will have extra for topping.

 

[Boatboy24]

BB24, just curious. Did you order from MoreWine and not directly from Vadai? If you did so, may I ask why. Not criticizing, just wondering.

Rocky: I've had good experience with them overall and my first barrel (also from them) was pretty much water tight and ready to go when it arrived.

Doesn't look like MoreWine sells a 30l Vadai but they do give a warning on all Vadai barrels that the sizes may be 10% bigger than the stated volume. It might be better to buy the 20l Vadai. If it turns out to be 22l you will probably be in good shape. If it turns out to be 20l then you will have extra for topping.

They don't. But these are drop shipped directly from Vadai, who does offer a 30 liter barrel. I did think initially that this was just a slight difference in size, but I would have had to add 6-8 bottles to top it up. That's simply too much.

 

[Pumpkinman]

Rocky, I was going to ask the same question, I've ordered direct from Vadai, both times (three barrels total) it was a pleasure to speak with Ruth, and my orders were perfect.
I'll always purchase direct from the source than from a third party, too many points of failure.
I hope they get it right for you Boatboy24!

 

[Rocky]

Thanks for the information, All.

Mike's reply made me think perhaps that MoreWine selects the barrels that they sell from Vadai, thus the better quality. BB24's reply indicates a "drop ship" agreement between the two companies so I would expect the quality should be the same and so should the shipping. One explanation that would cover both scenarios would be that MoreWine selects and stocks the 23 liter barrels only (or perhaps only a few sizes) which seems plausible because that is probably the most common size ordered by home wine maker and has a drop ship arrangement for all or most other sizes. Interesting.

 

[ibglowin]

They are indeed "drop shipped" from Vadai. I think Vadai sends out the "cream of the crop" to those who order from Morewine as they have to keep not just one, but two customers happy. It just makes sense that they would exercise a little more care in the QC department for a third party order.

 

[Rocky]

That makes sense, Mike. I am going to order a 13.2 gallon so I guess I should check with MoreWine. Thanks.

 

[ibglowin]

At this point its just a "theory" with a couple of data points but seems like a few others have seen the same results as well. All I know is that Vadai 1 and 2 which were ordered through Sandor were problematic and ultimately needed wax to get the leaks to stop in several places. The staves are black along many of the joints from seepage over the years. Vadai 3 & 4 which were ordered through Morewine still look almost brand new with the exception of staining at the top bunghole due to overfilling. Joints are tight and very clean still for the most part.

 

[Boatboy24]

Well, the fine folks are MoreWine are taking care of this and having a new barrel shipped to me. They offered to let me simply hold on to the larger one if I wanted it; but sadly, I can't keep a 30L full (at least not right now).

Rocky: I'll have a third data point in a couple weeks, but like Mike's, the two barrels I've received from MoreWine have arrived pretty much water tight. The sealing/break in process was a breeze and I had zero leaks.

 

[sdelli]

I purchased three barrels direct from Vadai about three months ago. Two 23 ltr. and one 40 ltr. ... All looked great and packed real well. I followed the hot seal they recommend to the tee... All three have wine in them and never seen a leak. I have a hard time believing the person in the back building barrels cares if it is going to Morewine or direct to a customer.... It just comes down to who you like to deal with better.... I personally like the people at Vadai.... Only problem I have is the 23 liter is slightly bigger then a wine kit. Always adding a couple bottles of wine. Should have purchased a 20 liter for kits....

 

[Pumpkinman]

I am going to agree with sdelli on this one, with the volume that Vadai does, it would take a team of warehouse employees to inspect and fine the cream of the crop, again, this is by "eyeballing" the barrels, I have a hard time believing this; when I talked with Ruthie at Vadai, at that time, she was telling me that my barrels would ship later than expected due to her warehouse guy having to take off for a family emergency...one guy...
I have three barrels, one 23 liter and two 20 liter barrels, all purchased direct and no problems.

 

[shoebiedoo]

I purchased 2 barells both from more wines. One was very tight, and never leaked and the other was almost a sieve. But shipping is still cheaper with morewines.

 

[Rocky]

Okay, Guys. Thanks a million! Now I am totally confused!

 

[Boatboy24]

The new barrel arrived yesterday, and I began the break in last night. I had a little leaking on one of the heads when I first started, but by the time I was ready to fill the barrel, everything was tight as a drum. Filled it up, and no signs of water on the outside this morning. This one is the right size too! MoreWine has been very easy to deal with through the whole process, and other than the lost time, the process has been painless.

It'll sit for a few days filled with water, then I'll begin the Chardonnay barrel ferment this weekend. WooHoo!

 

[ibglowin]

Good to hear it was fairly painless transaction. You should be good to go for the barrel ferment as the must will be much thicker than wine/water so you should have leakage.