Wine barrels have been used for thousands of years and continue to be the storage vessel of choice when it comes to aging most wine. So what’s the deal with wine barrels? You’ve probably seen them used as planters, tables in tasting rooms, and stacked impressively high in photographs of winery cellars. From a winemaking standpoint, little has changed about the wine barrel in the last 2,000 years, and there’s little reason to think much will change in the future.