The most common barrels used in wine-making are the Bordeaux, at 59 gallons (225 litres), known as the barrique, and the Burgundy at 60 gallons (228 liters). Some wine-makers of the Antipodes and the Americas use the large hogshead barrel at 79 gallons (300 litres).

This useful information comes from Wikipedia: . "Wine barrels, especially those made of oak, have long been used as containers in which wine is aged. Aging in oak typically imparts desirable vanilla, butter and spice flavours to wine. The size of the barrel plays a large role in determining the effects use of oak on the wine by dictating the ratio of surface area to volume of wine with smaller containers having a larger impact.

New barrels impart more flavours than do previously used barrels. Over time many of the oak properties get "leached" out of the barrel with layers of natural deposits left from the wine building up on the wood to where after 3 to 5 vintages there may be little or no oak flavors imparted on the wine.

Because of the expense of such barrels new methods are under investigation to reduce the costs. These include relining barrels.