Your wine: The intricacies of oak-aged wines

Most wines need time before they are ready to drink. Grapes are harvested and fermented in about a week, but with a few exceptions, the wines need time to develop and integrate their flavors. This is the process known as aging and it usually takes at least one year. Finer California red wines are aged two to four years before release.

Wine can be aged in stainless steel or concrete vats, but most red wines and many chardonnays are aged in oak barrels.

Barrels started out in ancient Rome as the best way to store wine but have become, over the years, the best way to age wine.

Oak barrels do a few things that help wine age gracefully. Most fundamentally, it acts as the vessel within which the wine sits relatively undisturbed in a cool dark place and develops and integrates its many complex flavors, aromas, colors and textures.

Second, the oak imparts a small amount of flavor that can add character and continuity to the wine. Oak-aged wines may have tones of caramel, vanilla or baking spices; they may have a toasty or smoky character; and they may have aromas that remind us of tea or tobacco.

The third thing oak does in the aging process is to breathe. A tiny amount of air passes through the barrel walls and into the wine during aging.

This decreases the wine's astringency and gives it a softer, suppler texture. The air also helps focus and stabilize the wine's color. In exchange, a tiny amount of water evaporates out through the barrel, leaving the wine inside more concentrated and intense.

Note that the barrels must be periodically "topped up," replacing the evaporated volume with wine so that there isn't an air pocket inside. Any excessive amount of air would be damaging to the wine.

Finally, the oak barrel participates in a range of chemical processes that help age the wine, including neutralizing any vegetal flavors, accentuating its fruit flavors, and supporting the development of the structure that enables it to continue its aging once bottled.

There is such a thing as too much oak. You may have tasted wines that are over-oaked.

Sometimes it's like licking a 2-by-4 or chomping on a mouthful of pencil shavings. Sometimes it's more like a vanilla shake than a glass of chardonnay.

Winemakers have various ways of managing the presence of oak in their wines. They choose between French, American and Eastern European oak. Each of these has its own unique character and leaves its own impression on the wine. They also decide whether to use new oak or previously used barrels.

Barrels that have been depleted by previous use don't act as powerfully on the wine. New oak's strong impact can only be tamed by a robust wine.

Winemakers also decide how much to expose the wine to oak. A shorter stint in the barrel or blending oak-aged wine with a separate wine aged in stainless steel can keep the oak in check.

Oak in wine is like makeup on the face of a woman. If it is used to cover perceived inadequacies or to create an image that departs from the true character of the wine -- or the woman -- we may feel manipulated or deceived.

But, when used sparingly and tastefully, it can bring together all the elements that make her interesting and unique and highlight her natural beauty.


Kevin Quinn's book, "It's Your Wine, Drink It is now," available for Kindle and in paperback. Search Kevin Quinn Wine on or reach him at or 334-0421. YourWineGuyKevin on Facebook.