I was initially going to write about how the mild weather will influence the harvest this year, then I realized that I wrote the exact same thing last year. So..... Let’s talk about barrels instead. This overview is the first in a series discussing barrels.
Barrels are an integral part of winemaking. Traditionally, wine is aged and sometimes fermented in barrels. Oak is traditionally used, though other wood types can be found, such as redwood and acacia. Oak is beneficial due to the fact that it can be water-tight and is semi-permeable to oxygen, which allows for a gentle aging of the wine. In addition, the flavor impact of oak works well in wine.
We use oak barrels from France, Romania, Hungary, and America. French, Romanian, and Hungarian barrels are the species Quercus petraea, while American oak is Quercus alba. The European oak tends to have a finer grain structure which results in slower extraction of flavor and tannin, whereas American oak tends to have a quicker and more pronounced extraction of flavors and tannin. One interesting fact: many French oak forests used for barrels are government controlled and were originally planted in the time of Napoleon II for ship-building purposes.
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