Category:
Stories
Southern Cross Cooperage
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South Australia, with its famous vineyards, has a strong local history of cooperage - the making of wine barrels. A few years ago, some Adelaide businessmen decided that it was time to bring cooperage into the 21st century. The company they founded, Southern Cross Cooperage, is now considered by many in the industry to be the most technologically advanced cooperage in the world.
Today, with computer technology, there are better ways to make wine barrels than by using age old traditional methods. Computer-controlled machinery maximizes timber yield and reduces labour inputs. The precision-made barrels reduce the incidence of bacterial growth inside the barrel and also result in less leakage.
Over the past three years, the company's engineers have pioneered many new production techniques. Patented processes include a computer-controlled method of barrel toasting - the most important part of barrel production.
To ensure quality, the Southern Cross Cooperage partners scoured the world for a highly qualified Master Cooper; they found one in the United States and brought him to Adelaide to oversee production and quality control.
Success breeds success: the company has recently had strong sales into the United States, Italy, France and Portugal, and is starting to ship to China.
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