A few days after his retirement, Antonio Gallardo admits that he still feels this new stage of life “like a long vacation.” After 48 years in the barrel-making industry, Gallardo steps away from a unique craft, that of a master cooper, a trade he started at a young age and in which he has witnessed how technology has completely transformed the process. His son, Jorge Gallardo, one of the last workers he trained, continues at Murúa as a living testament to the oral transmission of the cooper’s trade.
A Long Vacation
Active and full of energy, Antonio is still adjusting to the idea that his time as a master cooper has come to an end. In fact, he admits, “Retirement kept me up at night because I couldn’t quite believe it was actually happening.” He adds, “I worked with great joy, and I loved my job; I wasn’t one of those waiting eagerly for retirement.”
Little by little, this Catalan-born cooper is coming to terms with both the new phase ahead of him and the incredible professional journey he has just concluded.
Not even the physical demands of the trade made him consider retiring: “Even though it’s a job that keeps you constantly on edge, I never got tired of working.”
“Tonelería Murúa is highly demanding when it comes to barrel manufacturing.”
Murúa, at Heart
Antonio is not comfortable being the center of attention, but he admits that his last day at the cooperage was deeply emotional, even though it was tough for him. His colleagues acknowledged his work and his ability to teach and train others during his time at Tonelería Murúa.
After a 48-year career across different companies, Antonio Gallardo firmly states that Tonelería Murúa is special: “They take great care of the product and have an incredible wood stock, which gives you many possibilities to create top-quality barrels.” He emphasizes that the vast amount of wood drying in the yard, waiting for its optimal moment, allows for the production of exceptionally high-quality barrels. He also acknowledges that Murúa “is highly demanding when it comes to barrel manufacturing.”
“They take great care of the product and have an incredible wood stock, which gives you many possibilities to create top-quality barrels.”
A Cooper’s Calling
Antonio has trained over 150 coopers in nearly 50 years of professional experience. With this extensive background, he affirms: “It’s very difficult to train coopers; it’s a highly physical job with many intricate processes.” That’s why, at Tonelería Murúa, the decision was made to rotate coopers across the different steps involved in barrel-making.
As a master cooper, Antonio describes his role as different from that of other coopers: “I work, but in a different way; my job is also to supervise and support my colleagues in their work.”
His path to becoming a master cooper was shaped by both chance and passion over time. He had the opportunity to work in France, where he learned less harsh techniques and a greater emphasis on craftsmanship compared to the methods used in Spain during the 1980s. Now, things have evolved significantly.
All the experience and knowledge Antonio has gained are complemented by his passion for teaching: “Training someone is very difficult and can only be achieved with time and patience.” This master cooper, with a natural talent for instruction, admits he was not a good student: “I didn’t like my teachers at all back in the day, and I wasn’t a great student.”
That’s why, when he decided at 16 to apply for a job at a newly opened cooperage to try his hand at this uncommon craft, no one could have imagined he would one day become a master cooper.
Son and Apprentice
By another twist of fate, Antonio has become the mentor of his own son, Jorge. He admits candidly: “Training Jorge has been very difficult because I have been the hardest on him out of all the coopers I’ve trained.” Rather than making things easier, their relationship added another layer of rigor: “I didn’t want his colleagues to think that, just because he was my son, he would get any special treatment or fewer demands.”
After working together for four years, Antonio now sees Jorge as “very well-prepared” and adds: “He has something essential for this job—he really loves what he does.”
Although it may seem like a natural path, Antonio insists that he neither offered Jorge the job nor pressured him to continue the family trade: “He was the one who volunteered, we gave it a try, and he liked it.” Still, Antonio admits, “I was very tough on him.”
To truly have the makings of a cooper, Antonio emphasizes: “You have to love it—otherwise, it’s impossible.” He also points out that “you need to be skilled with your hands, proficient with tools, and have physical endurance.” From there, he says, one can begin to learn the craft.
Is the famous cooper’s eye necessary? Antonio responds: “It’s a skill you can apply to life itself.” After so many years of working and training others, he claims he can tell whether someone has both the desire and the potential to work in the trade. He also believes it’s a skill that can be taught: “The secret is knowing how to look at the barrels—because no two are ever the same.”
A Craft in Transformation
From the day 16-year-old Antonio walked through the doors of his first cooperage to the day he left Tonelería Murúa in Navarrete 48 years later, the trade and the industry have changed significantly. Technology has simplified some processes and automated others.
Gallardo acknowledges that he could never have foreseen the current state of the industry “from my perspective as an apprentice in the 1970s.” He believes that this transformation will continue, with technology playing an increasingly prominent role. However, one thing remains clear: the work of a cooper is still essential.
