Why are wines aged in oak?

Winemakers began to notice the oak barrels had a pleasurable impact on the wine. Oak aging allows for an extremely slow integration of oxygen, which gradually softens the wine. This process improves the flavor of many wines and also contributes great structural qualities, such as tannins imparted from the wood.

Why oak is the only suitable timber to used as wine barrels?

While other woods were used, oak was popular for a number of reasons. First, the wood was much softer and easier to bend into the traditional barrel shape than palm wood, thus the oak only needed minimal toasting and a barrel could be created much faster. Contact with oak softens and smooths wine.

How does aging in oak affect the flavor of a wine?

Oak barrels have tannin, which leaches into the wine as it ages. Tannin is that astringent sensation on your palate that leaves your mouth dry or makes your teeth itch. When properly integrated into the wine, it sneaks up on you as the flavor fades.

What does aging do to wine?

As the wine ages, they lose their charge and start to combine, forming chains and becoming larger and heavier. This reduces the surface area of the tannins, causing them taste smoother, rounder and gentler. Once these combined compounds become too large, they fall out of suspension as sediment.

What does oak taste like in wine?

In terms of flavors, living inside oak is a compound known as vanillin, which as the name suggests, tastes like vanilla. When a wine sits in oak for a long time, that compound leaves the wood and transfers into the wine, which is why many white wines, especially Chardonnay, can have such prominent vanilla flavors.

Why is oak used for alcohol?

Oak is used in winemaking to vary the color, flavor, tannin profile and texture of wine. Oak barrels can impart other qualities to wine through evaporation and low level exposure to oxygen.

Why is oak used for Whisky?

The tannins, lignins and vanillins present in virgin oak can dominate a spirit in long term whisky maturation. Consequently, at Bruichladdich we use virgin oak casks with strategic care. The influence of the oak on the maturing spirit is reduced with each filling of the cask, as the wood flavours are leached out.

Why is wine aged in wooden barrels?

As the most common type of barrel used during the wine-aging process, oak barrels add oxygen, tannins (the backbone of a red wine), and a depth of flavor to the wine stored inside of them. The oxygen that comes through the oak barrel helps the wine mature, and tannins develop the structure of wine over time.