08/09/06 Oak Barrels & Flavor Pt 2

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and on today's program we are concluding our two part series discussing oak barrels and the flavors and aromas they impart to wine. Yesterday we discussed the differences between French and American oak barrels today we are going to address the age of the barrel and how that contributes to varying styles of wines. New Barrels are expensive and are likely reserved for the more expensive premium wines. New barrels will impart the strongest and most apparent characteristics to the wine. With each subsequent use, the barrel flavors diminish. By the third use very little flavor is imparted at all. These varying strengths of flavor allow a wine maker to blend wines that have been in a combination of new and varying strengths of used barrels to create wines that are more subtle and less likely to taste over-oaked. Those more subtle wines are what most appeal to me. However, along with the subtle flavors of older barrels, comes the need for a high degree of attention to the cleaning of the barrels, as they may house contaminants that would ruin the wine. The wine maker selects the types and ages of barrels, or the combination of barrels, which he or she feels best suits the styles of wines they are producing. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.