Here the standard barrel is the 228-l (60-gal) pièce, which is relatively low (88 cm/37 in) and squat, supposedly for practicality given the narrow doorways and small scale of many Burgundian cellars, and to provide a deeper bilge for the lees which accumulate in this region where racking is generally less frequent than in Bordeaux, for example. The staves are usually notably thicker than those of barriques, about 27 mm. Traditionally these barrels had chestnut hoops or iron hoops painted black, although some domaines have followed the American taste for more workmanlike galvanized hoops which need no repainting.
