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wine barrel

In England before 1824, a unit of liquid capacity, about 119.24 liters.

From at least the 14ᵗʰ century the barrel of wine has contained 31.5 gallons, one-eighth of the tun of 252 gallons. The gallons are wine gallons of 231 cubic inches, used by the Excise for centuries before being legalized by an act of 1707 (Anne chap. 27 s 17.). Honey and cooking oil are also said to have been sold by these measures.

The tun, pipe, firkin and hogshead were in use by 1439, the barrel and rundlet by 1483, and the tierce by 1536. Thereafter the system remained remarkably stable until the introduction of imperial measure in 1824. In that reform the capacities of the various wine casks were changed very little (slightly adjusted to round numbers), but their capacities were thereafter stated in imperial gallons. See the table below.

English Casks for Wine
							tun
					pipe or butt		2
		firkin or puncheon or tertian				1½	3
			hogshead		1 ¹/₃	2	4
			tierce	1½	2	3	6
	wine barrel		1 ¹⁄₃	2	2 ²⁄₃	4	8
	rundlet	1¾	2 ¹⁄₃	3½	4 ²/₃	7	14
wine gallon	18	31.5	42	63	84	126	252
liters (before 1824)	68.14	119.24	158.99	238.48	317.97	476.96	953.92
pre-1824, in imperial gallons	14.99	26.23	34.97	52.46	69.94	104.92	209.83
imperial gallons 1824 - about 2000	15	26¼	35	52.5	70	105	210
liters (after 1824)	68.19	119.3	159.1	238.7	318.2	477.3	954.7