19 posts
Aging of a wine before bottling is a balance between the wine’s inherent qualities and the winemaker’s goals. The decision often involves experimentation, understanding the vineyard, and following the wine’s natural development over time. Here are...
Wine may be fermented and aged in a variety of materials including stainless steel, oak and ceramic vessels, including concrete. The use of oak barrels is very common and its use dates back to the early days of Roman wine making. While stainless ste...
What is more natural than a glass of wine? Grow some grape vines, wait for them to produce grapes, harvest the grape bunches, de-stem them (sometimes), crush them to produce juice, leave the crushed grapes in contact with the juice to create color...
Wine may be fermented and aged in a variety of materials including stainless steel, ceramic vessels, including concrete, and in oak barrels. Oak barrels add additional quality, character and smoothness to wines and can impart many flavors into the w...
Oak is used extensively in winemaking during fermentation and aging. It can add flavor compounds – including aromas of vanilla, clove, smoke and coconut. Oak barrels also allow the slow ingress of oxygen – a process which makes wine taste smoother a...
In winemaking, wood barrels impart textures, aromas and flavors into the final product. Wines can be fermented and/or aged in oak barrels anywhere from six months to two years or longer. Many red wines are aged in some type of oak barrels while f...
In a recent blog, I listed some of the many factors that can affect a wine’s flavors. One of the factors is the type of vessel chosen by the winemaker to ferment the wine. So, let’s take a closer look. The three most common fermentation vessels are ...
Last time we looked specifically at how oak affects the flavor of wine. There we learned that oak can be used in the fermentation process and/or the aging process to add various flavors to the wine. But before you take a first sip of wine, swirl your...
Oak has been used for thousands of years as a wine vessel. Going back to Roman times, it was an inexpensive and durable container for transporting wines over land and by sea. And, today, oak remains and important wine vessel. Oak barrels are someti...
Viognier (Vee-own-Yay) is a wine that has taken an extreme backseat in the past to Chardonnay, yet shares a lot of similarities. This grape is originally from the Northern Rhône region of France. And, while France still grows approximately one-third...
Oak has been used as an aging vessel for wines for centuries. Wines get added flavors and complexity from being aged in oak barrels, especially new oak. But oak barrels are expensive. And they only impart flavor to wines during their first two to th...
2015 1000 Stories Zinfandel ($18) I’ve had my eyes on this one for a while now. It differentiates itself by noting on the front label that it is “Bourbon Barrel Aged.” Aging wines in oak barrels is common, but I’ve not seen a wine aged in Bourbon b...
Last time we learned that aging wine in barrels can impart flavors ranging from none, in older ‘neutral’ barrels, to subtle hints of vanilla, or bolder flavors of chocolate and smokiness, depending on the barrels age and the degree to which its insid...
We’ve been exploring where wine gets it flavor from starting with the star of show, the juice of the grapes, then learning how the grape skins, seeds and stems can affect the finished flavor and we also looked at how the fermentation process can affe...
Last time we looked at the differences between new oak versus neutral oak wine barrels. New oak imparts lots of flavors to wine. But after about three vintages, the oak no longer imparts flavor so it is called neutral oak. Much of the flavor imparte...
Wine may be fermented and aged in a variety of materials including stainless steel, oak and ceramic vessels, including concrete. The use of oak barrels is very common and its use dates back to the early days of Roman wine making. While stainless ste...
Last time we took a quick look at one of the characteristics of wine, its body. A wine’s body is simply based on how it feels in your mouth. And a wine’s body is affected by its alcohol level, tannin, acidity and sweetness. And each plays a role. So...
Last time we discussed how all the fruit flavors get into wine. We discussed that wines don’t actually contain fruit other than grapes, but the grapes, the soil they are grown in, the fermentation process, and the aging process can impart other fruit...
You may have read about a wine, or checked the back label, or heard people speak of wines with flavors of apple, grapefruit, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries. Or, leather, tobacco, chocolate, and coffee. Or my all-time favorite, from the b...