Capacities of
wine casks were formerly measured and standardised according to a specific system of
English units. The various units were historically defined in terms of the
wine gallon so varied according to the definition of the gallon until the adoption of the
Queen Anne wine gallon in 1707. In the United Kingdom and its colonies the units were redefined with the introduction of the
imperial system whilst the Queen Anne wine gallon was adopted as the standard
US liquid
gallon. The major wine producing countries use barrels extensively and have developed standards at variance with the traditional English volumes (e.g. a
hogshead of , a
barrique of (Bordeaux), (Australia) of (Burgundy) and a
puncheon of ) are commonly used in the wine and wine
cooperage industries.