From little things, big things grow

“From little things, big things grow” – thus it is with the tiny acorn into which the mighty oak tree grows. 

Wine and oak – If every there was a more perfect example of symbiotic unison please tell me.  Oak imparts to wine a character that no other wood can even come close to. Wine matures in oak, transforms in its embrace and up until recently, was even sealed with it. The cork is the bark from yet another species of oak. Never has one tree, given so much to wine, and by extension – man (and woman).

Wine is ostensibly the fermented juice from the fruit of the Vitis vinifera or grape-vine.

Sounds easy to make. Take some plump juicy grapes, crush them (preferrable under the feet of delicate virgins), add a touch of yeast, wait for bit until the bubbling stops, whack it in a barrel for a bit and drink away. For all of this simplicity (and I have obviously vastly over simplified here – as James May discovered with his “Chateau de Boot d’Jaguar”) – it is the kiss of oak that adds a little touch of magic.

The use of oak in winemaking can affect the colour, flavour, level of tannin and texture of the wine.   Oak barrels first came into widespread use during the Roman Empire (what have the Romans ever done for us?).  Ancient Wine merchants discovered that beyond better storage, wine kept in oak barrels improved the wine by making it softer and even better-tasting.

The porous nature of an oak barrel allows some levels of evaporation and oxygenation to occur in wine (and whisky and sherry and beer and…). This evaporation allows the wine to concentrate its flavour and aroma compounds. The small amounts of oxygen that passes through the barrel acts as a softening agent upon the tannins of the wine. The chemical properties of oak have a effect on the wine. Phenols within the wood interact with the wine to produce vanilla type flavours, spiciness and/or sweetness. The degree of “toast” (charring the inside of the barrel over an open flame) also imparts different flavour properties.

American oak (like Americans in general) have a coarser grain than their French cousins and tend to impart a more sweet and vanilla overtones due to the American oak having two to four times as many aromatic compounds. French oak barrels are seen as more subtle and elegant (and are therefore more expensive). Winemakers prefer American oak for bold, powerful reds or warm climate chardonnays but often use a mixture of both and blend the result. Sort of like a Mustang with a Renault engine in it (or the other way around). Whatever – it works.

French oak only comes from a few forests: Allier, Limousin, Nevers, Troncais and Vosges. Philip II of Spain is said to have sacrificed the (oak) forests of Spain to build the Armada. Italian winemakers have used Slovenian oak as an alternative to French. Russian oak from the Black Sea is being explored by French winemakers as a cheaper alternative to their limited supply of French oak. The mighty oak forests of Belarus – seen as the largest accessible supply in the world has yet to make its mark in the world of cooperage as lots of the mature trees have WW2 shrapnel embedded in them that makes milling difficult.

So next time you comment on a good woody chardy, or revel in the marvelous tannins in your favourite Cab Sav – spare of thought for the tree that made it possible.

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