Whether you are deciding to make up a barrel of your own homemade wine or if you’re just truly concerned about the barreling methods used in the wine you drink then you should know these age old facts about basics wine. Wine Barrels are made of Oak.
It has been said that the wine barrels made in France are of the best quality for storing wine as it tends to color the flavor of the wine in a mellow pleasant way while American Oak lends a flavor and aroma to wine that many would find unappealing. Recently it has ben noted that once American Oak wine barrels have been in use for many decades, like their French counterparts, the Oak tends to stop lending its properties to the wine it holds.
Some wineries in the US now have a stock of seasoning or basics wine that they use just for seasoning Oak wine barrels, never intending to sell this batch of “utility wine” after its “seasoning” role is over, which is usually just the first year as wine barrels have a useful lifetime of about five years maximum. There is a certain amount of the Oak properties that actually are beneficial to the taste of the wine and that depends on the tannin acid content of the Oak and Oak chosen for wine barrel use is inspected for its tannin content.
