ADDING OAK TO YOUR HOMEMADE WINES

This is Part I of a two part series about adding oak flavors to
your wines. In Part I we will cover a little history about oak
and wine and then move on to cover the various ways oak actually
affects a wine. Next month's newsletter will contain part II
where we will talk about what this all means for the home
winemaker: how to decide if a wine should be oaked, and if so,
how one can go about it.

Adding oak to a wine is one of the most fascinating aspect of
making wine. There are many different types of sensational
changes that can occur in a wine's character with proper oaking
of a wine. Its effects at times can be so dramatic as to seem
mystical in nature.


- First, A Little History On Wood And Wine.

It was more like evolution than a plan, that the effects of oak
ever came to be an integral part of wine. The marriage of oak
with wine was created by happenstance over the course of
centuries. Certainly, it would be nice to think that adding oak
to wine was originally done by some masterful design rather then
some whimsical alignment of circumstances, but that is simply not
the case.

It was during a period when European wine producers were no
longer just providers to their local community and surrounding
townships. They were becoming providers to other nations and,
eventually by the 1500's, New Worlds. It was an ever expanding
economy whose reaches where stemming further and further from the
vine-rooted soils from which they came. Having a means of
transporting these wines to these vast outreaches was vital to
the profitable growth of any wine producer.

Throughout the time of this expanding European economy and even
back to the fall of the Roman Empire, wooden barrels had been the
major means of transporting goods for great distances. Everything
from water, to olive oil, to even fish was being transported by
wooden barrels, and so to was the case for wine. Simply put,
wooden barrels were the ever-present choice of the day for
transporting perishable goods.

Ironically, in the earlier centuries of mass barrel usage,
winemakers searched for woods that had little to no effect on
their wines. 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. So, their
search for woods with little to no effect seemed justly founded,
and in many cases they were right. There were many hard woods
being used for barrel production during this time that--in
fact--did have significant negative effects on a wine's flavor
and condition.

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.


- How Does Oak Affect A Wine?

Oak wood can affect a wine in a lot of ways--some good, some bad.
Oak aging even affects wines in ways that we do not, yet, fully
understand. But, if oak aging is done correctly the major
benefits to your wine will be as follows:

1. Improved stability in the wine's clarity and color.

2. A reduction or softening of the harsher characters that are
commonly associated with younger wines.

3. And, the addition of wood flavors that give an overall
smoother and deeper texture to the wine.

Improved Stability:
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. Tannin is a
protein that, when added, causes unstable protein compounds in
that wine to bond together and settle to the bottom in a
reasonable amount of time.

These are compounds that, if not dealt with during bulk aging,
could possibly settle out later in the wine bottle. Some of these
elements are grape tannins, color molecules and a various array
of other phenolic compounds.

These instabilities can be view quite often by simply going to
your local wine shop and holding a few bottles of red wine
upside-down. By doing so you will discover that, on occasion,
certain bottles will have a dark, dusty deposit that has
collected and stuck to the bottom. These deposits are a small
sampling of the various proteins that oak aging helps to reduce
or eliminate all together.

Softening Of Harsh Character:
A second way in which a wine is improved with oak aging, has to
do with the barrel itself. For lack of a better term, wine
barrels breath correctly. That is to say, they allow a slow
infusion of oxygen into the wine in just the right amount to
benefit the aging process. This slow, low-level of oxidation
tends to help soften the remaining tannic flavors and improve the
wine's aroma by helping to release its natural, fruity elements.

Addition Of Wood Character:
Oak barrel aging also improves a wine by simply adding its own
flavor to the wine. 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.

Wine barrels are carefully toasted on their inner walls. Toasting
helps to concentrate these flavor compounds and rise them to the
surface of the wood where they can be more readily infused into
the wine. The amount of toasting done can bring out different
flavors. Lighter toastings are associated with coconut, whereas
the heavier toastings are more liken to Carmel.


- How Long Should You Age A Wine On Oak?

The amount of time a wine needs to be aged on oak varies
drastically from one situation to the next. Wineries typically
will age their wines between 6 months and 2 years, whereas the
home winemaker using a new 5 gallon barrel, may only need to oak
age their wine for one month. There are several factors that come
into play:

The Size Of The Barrel:
If you do the math, you will discover that the surface contact
area that a 5 gallon barrel provides per gallon of wine verses a
50 gallon barrel is roughly double. One can deduct from this that
a 5 gallon wine barrel will impart its wood characters on to the
wine at twice the rate of a 50 gallon barrel and marginally so
with sizes in between.

The Age Of The Barrel:
The more times an oak barrel has been used, the slower its effect
will be on a wine. Which means, the wine will need to remain in
the barrel longer as the number of uses increases. A winery will
rotate a percentage or their barrel stock out each year to help
even-up the amount barrel aging their wines will need from one
year to the next.

The Level Of Toasting:
The amount of toasting that has been done to a barrel will play
part in the amount of "wood" a wine can actually take. Heavier
toastings may be fine for heavier, Burgundy type wines, but less
so for a Zinfandel.

The Variety Of Oak Used:
There is a distinction that can be made between American oak and
French oaks. American oaks tend to do better with medium to
lighter toastings and have a character that leans towards
coconut, whereas French oaks are more vanilla to Carmel in
character. If the same wine was aged in both types of barrels,
the skilled winemaker would eventually come to the conclusion
that wine would have to come out of one cask before the other to
obtain optimum character. However, which barrel would be emptied
first, American or French, would depend on the particular wine
that is being aged.

Part II of this article will be in next month's newsletter. There
we will cover a little more clearly what this all means for the
home winemaker. How they can incorporate different methods of
oaking and the pro's and con's of each method. Or, if they should
be oaking a particular wine at all.

--To find out more about the oak barrels we offer see the
following link on our web site:

French Oak Barrels

- What Does This All Mean For The Home Winemaker?

First, as a home winemaker you have a choice as to whether you
want to incorporate oak aging into your wine or not. Some wines
benefit significantly from this type of treatment; others only
marginally; and some not at all. For example, there are many
wines made from white grapes that you will find on today's market
which rarely touch oak wood.

Some of the more popular examples of un-oaked white wines are:
Chenin Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Muscat and Riesling. And just the
same, there are white wines that do improve with oak aging, such
as Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Most red grape wines do
improve with some oak aging. Prime examples of these wines are:
Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Beaujolais, and there
are many others as well.

Some fruit wines do not improve much when oaked aged, such as
peach or apricot wines. But, the opposite does hold true for most
wines made from smaller berries, such as elderberry or
blackberry. These particular fruit wines tend to mature more
quickly when properly aged on oak.

Some fruits are simply an experiment when it comes to oak aging.
For example, persimmon wine may be excellent or horrible with oak
aging. There's really no specific information available as to
whether it will improve or hurt such a wine. So, unless you know
someone who has personal experience in such an endeavor, you
might be in a position of experimentation when it comes to oaking
certain fruit wines. With time you will be able to apply your own
experiences to better judgment.

Regardless of the type of wine your are making, your best course
of action is to investigate a little on the particular style of
wine that you intend to make, before coming to any conclusions
about oaking. In the case of using packaged wine kits such as our
California Connoisseur, European Select or Legacy brands, they
will include small packages of oak powder to incorporate into the
recipe as the producers feel appropriate to the type.


- How To Go About Oak Aging Your Homemade Wines

There are several ways you can go about oak aging your homemade
wine if you choose to do so:

1. You can go the traditional method of actually aging your wine
in an oak wine barrel.

2. You can employ the use of toasted oak chips while the wine is
being bulk aged in a carboy or similar.

3. You can use oak powder during fermentation, such as the case
with the packaged wine ingredient kits mentioned earlier.

4. Or, you can add Oak Extractive to taste at bottling time.

All of these above methods have there advantages and
disadvantages.


Oak Barrels:
Speaking strictly from a flavor stand-point, a wine barrel is the
best way you can go. Not only does it put the wine in contact
with oak, it also allows a slow, controlled amount of oxygen into
the wine that (as stated in Part I of this article) increases the
wine's rate of maturity as well.

The down-side of the wine barrel is cost. While these barrels
will provide many years of service if properly cared for, they
are a hefty investment for the average home winemaker.

Maintenance of the barrel must be considered too. Once a barrel
is filled, it should always be full, whether it be with wine or
sulfited water. You can get away with a day or two of dry storage
if a Sulfur Strip is burned inside the barrel before-hand. But,
neglecting a barrel in any other way will eventually lead to its
spoilage. While there are methods of attempting to bring a
spoiled barrel back to its original sweetness, this is definitely
not a situation you want to be in.

-- To find out more about the oak barrels and the barrel
maintenance products we offer see the following links on our web
site:

French Oak Barrels

Barrel Maintenance Supplies


Toasted Oak Chips:
Using Oak Chips has the advantages of convenience and cost. You
simply add them to the wine after the fermentation has completed
and has had time to clear away from the settlings. The
disadvantage is you do not gain the maturing effects of slowly
infused oxygen that the oak barrel can naturally provide.

Most winemakers will throw the chips into the wine loose. They
will float on top for the first few days but will eventually sink
to the bottom. The only exception to this may be a few bits here
and there. If you like, you can use what is called a "hop bag" to
contain the chips while they are in the wine. The "hop bag" is
what beermakers use to contain their hops while they are being
incorporated into the beer, but it also works quite nicely for
keeping Oak Chips collected.

The Oak Chips do need to be treated before adding them to your
wine. There are two common methods that are used to do this. The
first, is to simply boil them in water for a few minutes. The
second, is to put them in a 24 hour bath of cold water and Sodium
Bisulfite at the rate of a 1/4 teaspoon per quart of water. Keep
the mix sealed in a jar or similar during this time.

The amount of Oak Chips you will want to use varies, but usually
it will be in the area of 1 to 2 ounces for every 5 to 6 gallon
batch of wine.

-- For more information about the Oak Chips, Hop Bags and Sodium
Bisulfite we offer, go to the following links on our web site:

Oak Chips

Hop Bags

Sodium Bisulfite


Oak Powder:
The advantage of using Oak Powder is, again, convenience. It is
easier to use than both an oak wine barrel or Oak Chips. Oak
Powder is normally associated with wine ingredient kits. This is
how most kit producers provide the oak that is to be added to a
particular kit.

The kit producers choose powdered oak for two reasons. Its ease
of use, as mentioned above, and the fact that Oak Powder can be
added during a fermentation without interfering with the
fermentation itself or the racking (siphoning) that will follow.
Adding oak during a fermentation allows these wines to be much
better flavored at 28 days, which is the time-frame that these
producers often advertise their wines to be ready.

While you can use Powdered Oak in wines on your own, we do not
recommend adding it during a fermentation. The reason is very
simple. You do not know if you are adding to much oak, or not
enough. There is no way to judge how much to add while the wine
is still fermenting. With pre-packaged ingredient kits this is
not an issue. These kits provide the best amount for that
particular kit based on trials performed by the kit producers.


Oak Extractives:
This is the most convenient way of all to add oak character to
your wine. An Oak Extractive is simply a liquid that you add to a
wine to taste. The effect is immediate and quite noticeable.
Wineries will quite often use Oak Extractives at bottling time as
a final tweak to the wine's flavor. The Oak Extractive will
increase the velvety, vanilla flavors that are associated with
oak aging.

The down-side is that, while you are adding some wonderful
flavors to the wine, you are not gaining any of the maturing
effects that oak wood can have on a wine. (As stated in Part I)
Not only does oak wood add flavor to the wine, but oak wood also
improves the stability of its color and clarity. Oak wood also
reduces the harsher flavors that tannin sometimes brings to a
wine. These are all benefits that are missing when using Oak
Extractive in place of barrel aging.

--To find out more about the Oak Extractive we offer, go to the
following link listed on our web site:

Oak Extractive


- As A Final Word

Realize that many fabulous wines can be made without the use of
any oak at all. Even wines that are traditionally aged on oak,
such as Cabernet or Pinot Noir, can be made by the home winemaker
without oak of any kind and still end up with stellar results.
And, as noted earlier, there are some wines that even do better
if not oaked.

You may even discover that you are a wine drinker that prefers
their wine with no woody characters regardless of type. Personal
tastes are important. As a home winemaker you have the amazing
ability to tailor your wines to suite you, a very valuable
benefit that should not be ignored.

So, when adding wood to wine, step carefully. Monitor the
progression of the wine you have aging on oak every 2 or 3 weeks.
If using Oak Extractives, try adding some to a portion of your
wine first to see if the effects are to your liking, not the
entire batch.

And, most of all, have fun.

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E. C. Kraus

Home Wine & Beer Making Supplies

Address: 733 S. Northern Blvd. - P. O. Box 7850 - Independence, MO  64053

Phone:(816) 254-7448  Fax:(816) 254-7051  Toll Free: (800) 353-1906

Email: customerservice@eckraus.com

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