Storing in Wine Barrels

Wine barrels have long been used as containers in which wine is aged. They are common and very popular with both professional winemakers and people who decide to start making wine as a part time hobby. Wine barrels are commonly made of oak, which imparts sought-after flavours to wine which is maturing, such as butter, vanilla and spice.

Materials used when constructing wine barrels

Winemakers select wood for their wine barrels from different forests for the effect on the finished wine. French oak was desirable wood for making wine barrels for many years. Experiments a few years ago with American oak were not very successful since the amount of influence that the barrel had on the taste of the wine was not good. This was due to the way the barrel was constructed. It is now common to find American oak as well as other countries oak in the construction of wine barrels. Barrels made from American oak cost less than half the price of French oak barrels and are able to achieve similar results.

How winemakers choose a wine barrel when making wine

There are a few different options available when it comes to choosing a barrel. Many winemaking regions have traditional barrel shapes. Bordeaux and Burgundy in France for example, both have different traditional shapes. There are also many different sizes as barrels can vary in size, the most common size being two hundred and twenty five litres, as well as variations in the thickness of the staves and the way the barrels are constructed in the end. Winemakers can order barrels with the wood on the inside of the barrel having being lightly or heavily charred with fire. The charring has an influence on the wine and the decision regarding depth of charring is made on the basis of the grape variety used and the wine style that is wanted.

Some Wine Barrel Specifics

It is very common for wines to be fermented in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks before they are put in wine barrels for ageing. New wine barrels impart more flavours than old barrels, and after five years or so they impart almost no flavour so there has to be a change of barrels at this point in time, or earlier. Barrels are high-priced and to save money, barrel users often shave the insides of used barrels and insert new thin inner staves to the barrels that have been toasted, or place bags containing oak shavings into tanks of wine.