Wine

Wine is one of the world's oldest and most popular alcoholic beverages, tracing its origins as far back as 6000 BCE in the Caucasus region now known as Georgia. It is produced from the fermentation of grapes, with different varietals, yeast strains and various winemaking practices all producing a huge array of styles. The most basic categorisation splits wines into red, white, rosé, orange and sparkling. The world's top wine producing countries are Italy, France and Spain.

Oak is used in winemaking to vary the colour, flavour, tannin profile and texture of wine, however, just like rum it is not necessarily a requirement. Despite this, the sheer scale of global wine production means ex-wine casks are available in great numbers to distillers and are increasingly being experimented with in the 21st century, particularly as an alternative to the climbing cost of traditional sherry casks.

The most prevalent ex-wine casks are traditional barriques, however some new world producers will also use the slightly larger hogshead size as well.