Oak Barrels: The Winemaker’s Spice Rack, featuring Joe Freeman and Ed Morris from The Rubin Family of Wines.

Ed Morris, associate winemaker for Rubin, has a background in coopering. (“Coopering”, or barrel making, comes from the Middle Dutch/Middle Low German term kūpe for tub or vat, based on the Latin word cupa.) Before going to work for Rubin in 2010, Morris was a cooper in Sonoma County. “Looking back on it, it was a long time in the making,” he reflects. “I’m a fourth generation craftsman. My great-grandfather was a violin builder, my grandfather was a clock maker, and my father was a carpenter and boat builder. So when I happened to get a job at a local cooperage, it was almost fated. So within the first week, I kind of felt at home and was completely infatuated with what was happening around me.” Morris keeps a collection of old coopering tools that he occasionally shows to visitors of the winery who ask about repair and maintenance of the barrels.

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