A flavour that faintly recalls wood, oak, vanilla, caramel, coffee or toast, and is generally regarded as a positive. The still base wines of some champagnes are also aged in oak barrels (barriques).
A flavour that faintly recalls wood, oak, vanilla, caramel, coffee or toast, and is generally regarded as a positive.
The still base wines of some champagnes are also aged in oak barrels (barriques). Maturing wine in wooden casks is known as 'élevage'. Only the best oak is used to make these barriques, for example from Allier, Nevers and/or Tronçais (in France), as well as from other regions in the USA and Russia.
Oak enriches the wine with valuable aromas and with tannin. In addition, the relatively small barriques (225 litres) give the wine a comparatively large surface area inside the cask (contact with the oxygen in the surrounding air). The oak also 'breathes' quite naturally. Either way, wine matures differently in these casks (often decidedly better!) than it does in a stainless steel tank. Wines in which these aromas come across as too dominant are described, unflatteringly, as 'over-oaked'. This may sometimes be because the producer used oak chips in steel tanks rather than traditional oak barrels.
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