The Art of Wine Making: Choosing Aging Vessels Other Than Oak Barrels

An Amphora Wine Vessel

(Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay)

Oak barrels are often the choice of a wine maker for an aging vessel. But, did you know, stainless steel, concrete and amphora are also used by wine makers in order to achieve the wine style that they desire.

Stainless steel is inert, meaning it doesn’t impart any flavors to the wine. This allows the pure expression of the grape variety, terroir, and vintage characteristics to shine through. Stainless steel aging vessels help preserve a wine’s aromas, bright fruit flavors and acidity. They can also be made airtight so that the wine is exposed to little or no oxidation during the aging process.

Winemakers have found that concrete aging vessels are semi-porous and allows for oxygenation like oak. It is also a neutral material that does not impart flavor and it is a natural insulator that stabilizes the temperature of the wine during aging. This allows winemakers to produce wines that tend to preserve the bright and fruit-forward flavors while still allowing for the important process of allowing the wine to ‘breathe’ during production.

Amphora is a ceramic vessel usually made of earthenware (e.g., clay or terra cotta) that was originally used in the transport of grains in Roman times. Research has shown that the use of amphorae dates to as early as 6,000 B.C. Amphora earthenware is naturally porous, like concrete, but it can also be made to be impervious to external oxygen by internally lining it with wax (i.e., beeswax) or tree resin. This creates a thin, smooth, polished coating that does not impart any flavor. Or, if the winemaker desires, it may be left unlined. Additionally, the amphora vessels can be left uncovered or sealed to prevent air contact with the wine.

Behind the Cork™ - Virginia Wine Governor's Cup Winner: Potomac Point Albarino

2023 Potomac Point Winery Albariño ($35)

When Potomac Point Winery & Vineyard was founded in 2007, Skip & Cindi Causey set out to make exceptional wine complete with an immersive experience rich in European ambiance and Virginia hill-side beauty.

Skip Causey and Jordan Cleary make up the wine making team. Skip spent 20 years training with three esteemed European winemakers at the winery, adopting their European approach to crafting wines that showcase their grapes. Skip is now passing the torch to Jordan, who has worked alongside him for 13 years.

This Potomac Point Albariño is produced from 95% Albariño and 5% Viognier. It undergoes a two-week fermentation, followed by the addition of a fining agent. It then settles and ages sur lie in stainless steel tanks for four months before bottling.

This Albariño is medium yellow in color with a delicate aroma baked apple with floral notes. On the Palate, it is medium-light bodied with nice apple and pear flavors, medium acidity and a soft, balanced finish. [ABV: 13.9%, TA: 7.3 g/L, pH: 3.33, RS: 0%]

This Potomac Point Albariño is another winner of the Virginia Wine Governor’s Cup and included in the winner’s case. It’s a terrific wine at a great price making it 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 this sample at no cost for review.

Media Sample Provided by Potomac Point Winery, Virginia Wine and Donna White Communications

The Art of Wine Making: Choice of Oak Barrels for Wine Aging

Wine may be fermented and aged in a variety of materials including stainless steel, oak and ceramic vessels, including concrete. The use of oak barrels is very common and its use dates back to the early days of Roman wine making.

While stainless steel imparts no additional flavor to a wine, and ceramics and concrete can add hints of minerality, oak barrels can have influences that range from subtle to intense.

When wine is aged in oak barrels, it develops flavors from the wood. Most commonly, oak barrels result in vanilla flavor that works well with many white and red wines.

If a wine is aged in 100% new oak, it will likely be very bold, rich, spicy and, of course, oaky. But, wines pull these flavors out of barrels relatively quickly. After the first year of use, a barrel loses much of its flavoring ability and, after three vintages, the wine has extracted most all of the oak's flavors, thus it is considered neutral oak.

Wines may still be fermented or aged in neutral barrels. Such aging tends to soften wines, particularly tannic wines, without adding the extra flavors. Neutral oak is typically used to maintain the fruit qualities in a wine while still getting some of the other benefits of aging in oak.

Much of the flavor imparted by the oak occurs naturally from the raw wood. But winemakers learned long ago that by "toasting" the inside of an oak barrel, they can enhance these flavors.

After a barrel is built, its inside can be exposed to fire to "toast" it. This is done either over an open flame or using a hand-held torch. The fire 'caramelizes' the wood's natural sugars and brings out complex compounds. From this, the wine will ultimately take on flavors that are toasty, charred, spicy and sweet depending on the amount of time the wood is toasted.

A lightly toasted barrel spends about 25 minutes exposed to flame while a heavily toasted barrel may get up to one hour of flame exposure. Essentially, the heavier the toast, the stronger and more varied are the imparted flavors.

Behind the Cork™ - Virginia Wine Governor's Cup Winner: Michael Shaps Chardonnay

2022 Michael Shaps Wild Meadow Chardonnay ($28)

Nestled in the woods just south of Charlottesville, Michael Shaps Winery blends Old World tradition with Virginia terroir. Founded in 2007 by acclaimed winemaker Michael Shaps, the winery is known for producing small-batch, age-worthy wines.

Produced in the Burgundian style, this 100% Chardonnay is whole-cluster pressed and fermented in oak barrels (50% new) with ambient (wild) yeast. This resulted in a prolonged fermentation and full malolactic conversion. It was then followed by 15 months of aging on primary lees.

This Michael Shaps Wild Meadow Chardonnay is medium gold in color with a very delicate aroma of pear. On the palate, this Chardonnay is fresh and bright. Its rather high acidity of 6.15 g/L is somewhat offset by the oak aging, having undergone full Malolactic conversion and the reported 0% residual sugar. These factors yield a Burgundy-like Chardonnay, that is fresh and bright. [ABV: 13%, TA: 6.15 g/L, pH: 3.2, RS: 0%]

This is yet another winner and, at this price, a perfect fit as the Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week. Cheers!

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Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission: I received this sample at no cost for review.

Media Sample Provided by Michael Shaps Winery, Virginia Wine and Donna White Communications

The Art of Wine Making: Making Decisions on Blending Wines

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Blending of wines plays a large role in the art of wine making.

The main reason that winemakers produce blends is to make the best wine possible.

Blending different grape varieties is useful in accentuating a particular grape's virtues. But winemakers have also learned never to blend an inferior wine with a good wine because the result is usually an inferior wine.

Blending allows for wines that are well balanced and complex in their aromas, flavors, colors and textures. The blended grapes can add layers of flavor that will change through the process of taking the first sip, letting it sit on your tongue and then as you swallow.

Here are some of the types of blending strategies used by wine makers:

Varietal Blends: This is the most common blending done in wine making. Here, wine makers blend different grapes (varieties) to achieve the wine that they desire. Examples include Bordeaux wines, Rhone Wine and Super Tuscan wines. Also, in the U.S., most wines labeled as single varietals are actually blends.  The laws state that for a wine to be labeled as a single varietal, it must contain at least 75% of the noted grape. That leaves the other 25% for the winemaker to be creative and generally to blend in other grapes that results in their best possible wine.

Field Blends: These are wines that are made from different grape varieties that are grown together in the same vineyard, harvested at the same time, and fermented together in one batch.

Vineyard Blends: Wine makers may draw grapes from multiple vineyards or even multiple regions and blend them to achieve the desired traits.

Vintage Blends: While rarely done, a wine maker may find that their current vintage just isn’t up to their standards. They can then choose to blend this year’s vintage with some of last year’s vintage.

With the exception of field blends, the wines are typically blended after fermentation and aging, just prior to blending.

As this series has continually pointed out, wine making is both a science and an art. And the art of blending, when done well, can elevate a wine to something greater than the sum of its parts. Cheers!