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How did the Woody Aroma get into the Wine?

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Tuesday, October 24 2006

The process for making wine is much easier than most people think. When yeast converts sugar in fruit to carbon dioxide and alcohol, the CO2 escapes into the air and what's left is wine. The winemaker's job is to create perfect conditions for the yeast to do its job and let nature take its course.

But what does wood have to do with it? Here's a little history from the E.C.Kraus website:

In the early 1500s, European wines began their climb to recognition and exporting of wines began. In those early years, wooden barrels were the ever-present choice of the day for transporting perishable goods.

Barrels were viewed as a necessary evil, an evil that was required to provide transportation, but only helped to accommodate the rapid deterioration of their wines.

French producers during this time preferred oak woods from the Baltic region that lied north and east of Poland rather then from there now famous homeland forests. The oaks from these regions had less "effect" on their wines, something they wanted to avoid.

It wasn't until as late as the early 1700's that some wine
producers began to discover the useful benefits of casking wines in properly selected oak woods -- not just for shipping, but for aging as well.

Today, there are some winemakers who still follow the tradition of using oak barrels to age their wine. However, many wine producers now use bags of oak chips, rather like large teabags, that can be placed in wine to enhance aroma.

The method is cheaper than using oak barrels, but it's also a method some wineries claim is deceptive to consumers looking for high grade wines.

During the oak aging process tannins are slowly released from the wood into the wine. With time, these tannins have the benefit of adding stability to the wine's color and clarity.

Wine barrels "breath" ...meaning, they allow a slow infusion of oxygen into the wine. This slow, low-level of oxidation tends to help soften the remaining tanic flavors imparted by the oak during aging and improve the wine's aroma by helping to release its natural, fruity elements.

The oaks used to produce wine barrels are carefully chosen based on the flavor qualities they posses. There are many different flavor compounds in oak that influence the flavor in wine, the most influential being vanillin. This compound can add flavors to the wine ranging from coconut, to vanilla, to even Caramel depending on the variety of oak selected and how it is prepared.

Recently, France's National Appellations Institute (INAO) said it had proposed a law to allow the country's Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) regions to ban or limit the use of oak wood chips in wine.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
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