The Art of Wine Making: Knowing When to Top Off Oak Wine Barrels

Photo by Sonia Nadales on Unsplash

Another aspect of the art of wine making is knowing when to top off oak wine barrels during the winemaking process. Winemakers need to routinely do this during barrel aging.

Here's why…

1. Evaporation Through the Barrel

• While the oak staves in the barrel do expand when saturated with the wine, these barrels are not completely airtight. So, they actually allow a small amount of oxygen to enter the barrel and interact with the wine.

• Conversely, oak barrels also allow evaporation of the wine through the wood over time, especially in dry or warm conditions.

• This evaporation creates air gaps, called “headspace” inside the barrel.

• The amount of wine that evaporates from the barrel is often referred to as the "Angel’s Share" because it was imagined that angels must be taking their share of the wine from the heavens above.

2. Risk of Oxidation

• The headspace is filled with air (that includes oxygen), and too much oxygen exposure can lead to oxidation, which can dull the wine’s flavors and aromas and, in the extreme, spoil the wine and give it a nutty-like flavor (much like Port wine flavor)

3. Knowing When to “Topping Off” the Barrels

• The “art” of knowing when to top off a wine barrel is a mix of routine checks, sensory observation, and understanding the wine’s environment. Experienced winemakers can even predict when barrels need topping based on subtle cues like how the barrels plug (known as a bung plug) fits or the cellar conditions.

• Topping off simply means refilling the barrel to its full capacity with the same wine (typically from a reserve tank or another barrel).

• This minimizes the oxygen in the headspace and helps preserve wine quality.

4. Frequency of Topping Off

• Winemakers typically top off barrels every few weeks to every couple of months, depending on cellar conditions (humidity, temperature), barrel size, and wine style.

So in short, topping off an oak wine barrel is a key part of maintaining the wine’s freshness during barrel aging. Yet another part of the art of wine making. Cheers!

Behind the Cork™ - Virginia Wine Governor's Cup Winner: King Family Vineyards

2021 King Family Vineyards Mountain Plains Monticello Red Blend ($85)

King Family Vineyards is a family-owned and operated winery. They’re known as one of the best wineries in Virginia.

They specialize in the production of premium wines that showcase the remarkable quality and terroir of the Monticello AVA. Beginning with carefully selected grapes, winemaker Matthieu Finot creates wines inspired by the old world, but uniquely expressive of Virginia wine.

This Monticello Red Blend is produced with 45% Cabernet Franc, 37% Merlot and 18% Petit Verdot.

The grapes are hand-sorted and destemmed. The wines underwent four to eight weeks of maceration in open-top concrete fermentation tanks, allowing for the extraction of color, tannin, and concentration. Following pressing, the wines were aged separately for 22 months in new French oak barrels. After blending, the wines continued to age until bottling.

This Monticello Red Blend is Medium ruby in color with aromas of black plum, blackberry and black currant along with a pleasant hit of the French oak. On the palate, this medium-full bodied Red Blend is rich and complex with big black fruit flavors and notable oak. This wine has a wonderfully long finish that is very smooth. [ABV: 13.8%, TA: 5.27 g/L, pH:3.52, Residual Sugar: <0.1%]

This King Family Vineyards Monticello Red Blend is indeed a winner! And a great fit as this week’s Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week. Cheers!

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Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission: I received these samples at no cost for review.

Media Samples Provided by King Family Vineyards, Virginia Wine and Donna White Communications

The Art of Wine Making: Choosing to Allow a Wine to Age On-Lees

Aging wine on lees (also known as sur lie aging) is a winemaking technique that can play a role in shaping the flavor, texture, and complexity of a wine—especially whites like Chardonnay, Champagne, and Muscadet, but also increasingly in reds and even natural wines.

Lees are the dead yeast cells and other solids (like grape skin particles) that remain in the wine after fermentation. There are two types (1) Gross lees which are heavy, coarse sediment that settles quickly and is usually removed and (2) the fine lees which are the smaller, finer particles that remain suspended longer and are typically the focus of lees aging.

After fermentation, the wine is left in contact with the fine lees for an extended period (ranging from a few months to several years). The winemaker may choose to stir the lees periodically (known as bâtonnage) to encourage more contact or leave the lees undisturbed to preserve freshness and minerality. Over time, the yeast cells break down and release compounds into the wine. 

Aging a wine on-lees can affect several aspects of the final product. It can add texture, giving the wine a richer, creamier mouthfeel. It also adds complexity to the wine with flavors of yeast, brioche, toast and even a bit of nuttiness. Finally, aging on-lees can naturally protect the wine against oxidation.

So, aging a wine on-lees is yet another part of the art of wine making. Cheers!

Behind the Cork™ - Virginia Wine Governor's Cup Winning Red Wines

The Virginia Wine Governor's Cup® Winning Red Wines

As noted in a previous blog, a qualified team of judges sampled over 620 of the best Virginia wines, ciders and meads from across the Virginia Commonwealth. 

The Virginia Governor’s Cup Competition is one of the most stringent and thorough wine competitions in the United States. The contest is a result of a partnership between the Virginia Wineries Association, which owns and manages the competition and the gubernatorial-appointed Virginia Wine Board.

The highest 12 ranking red and white wines make up the 2025 Governor's Cup Case.  

Here’s the first of the winning reds included in the Governor's Cup Case:

Trump Winery Sparkling Rosé ($44.99)

Trump Winery (formerly Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard) is a winery on Trump Vineyard Estates in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the county of Albemarle. It is within both the Virginia and Monticello viticultural areas and is among the 23 wineries on the Monticello Wine Trail.

The winery and vineyard were established by Patricia Kluge in 1999, and later purchased by Trump in 2011.

Jonathan Wheeler oversees their sparkling, white, and red wine programs. With extensive experience since 2006 and a background from Sonoma, Monterey, Marlborough, and the Finger Lakes, he holds a B.A. in Chemistry from SUNY Oswego and is a member of the Winemaker’s Research Exchange in Virginia.

This Trump sparkling rosé is produced from 88% Chardonnay and 12% Pinot Noir. It is medium copper in color with a delicate that includes cherry and floral notes. On the palate this wine is very bubbly with flavors of strawberry, cherry and grapefruit. [ABV: 12.5%, TA: 10 g/L, pH: 3.25, Residual Sugar: 0.9%]

This is a very refreshing sparkling rosé and a Virginia Wine Governor's Cup® winning wine featured as this week’s Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week. Cheers!

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Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission: I received these samples at no cost for review.

Media Samples Provided by Virginia Wine and Donna White Communications

The Art of Wine Making: Choosing to Do Punchdowns and Pumpovers

Photo by Seljan Salimova on Unsplash

Punchdowns and pumpovers are techniques used by wine makers in the production of red wine.

They happen during fermentation and are used to manage the “Cap” - the grape solids (skins, seeds, stems) that rise to the top of the fermentation vessel and form this “cap.”

Both processes extract color, flavor, tannins, and aroma compounds from grape skins, seeds, and stems. 

Here's a breakdown of each method and their artistic applications:

Punchdowns: Punching down the cap involves physically submerging the floating materials back into the fermenting juice. These can be performed manually or mechanically and are usually done 1–3 times daily, depending on style and rate of fermentation.

Artistic considerations:

• Gentleness: Punchdowns are gentler than pumpovers, making them ideal for delicate grapes (like Pinot Noir)

• Frequency and force: More punchdowns = more extraction, but too much can result in overly tannic wines

• Timing: Early punchdowns can help a wine maker emphasize fruity flavors while later punchdowns enhance structure and mouthfeel of the final product

Pumpovers: Pumpovers involve drawing juice from the bottom of the fermentatation vessel and pumping it over the top to soak the cap. Theyh are performed using a pump and hose system every 10–30 minutes, or several times per day.

Artistic considerations:

• Intensity: Can be gentle or aggressive depending on pump speed and how the juice is spread over the cap

• Aeration Control: Pumpovers introduce oxygen, which can help yeast health and influence the wine’s eventual style

• Customization: Winemakers may vary pump duration, flow rate, and temperature of the juice used in the pumpover

So there you go! Punchdowns and pumpovers are yet another set of artistic techniques that wine makers use in order to develop their own style of wines. Cheers!