Aging wine in a barrel?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Bocochoco

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2020
Messages
150
Reaction score
34
So I've used white oak barrels to age whisky and rum I distilled but never wine.
I've used oak spirals but is aging wine in a barrel any different? Taste it periodically until I feel its been oaked enough?
Also what kind of wines shouldn't be oaked ever? I've only ever used spirals on red wines.
 
I'm American, so I like oaked Chardonnay LOL. For me, it depends on whether I'm making a wine to be drunk right now (90% of the wine I make), in which case I don't oak them, or if I want something to be put up for a while.

Never aged in a barrel, could not possibly make that much wine and don't want to use one of the small 5 gallon barrels. If you do use one of those, you will want to check it frequently, because of the larger wood;wine ratio, it will impart oakiness remarkably quickly, I would imagine.
 
Well the white oak I ordered is lightly toasted. I've used it well for whisky no problem. Takes longer to oak it but it's easier to control and I can always suppliment with heavily toasted spirals I figure if I want more complexity. Should I do french oak? I would like my wine Americana using American grapes so I figure American oak. I'm big on the regional thing. I always use things like local honey, local water, homemade charcoal from silver maple wood, etc.
Do I need to K-meta it to prevent oxydation or will flooding it with co2 be good enough? These are things I don't have to worry about with spirits.
 
Well the white oak I ordered is lightly toasted. I've used it well for whisky no problem. Takes longer to oak it but it's easier to control and I can always suppliment with heavily toasted spirals I figure if I want more complexity. Should I do french oak? I would like my wine Americana using American grapes so I figure American oak. I'm big on the regional thing. I always use things like local honey, local water, homemade charcoal from silver maple wood, etc.
Do I need to K-meta it to prevent oxydation or will flooding it with co2 be good enough? These are things I don't have to worry about with spirits.

For beer aged in barrels, I don't worry about oxidation. I use wood chips or spirals for wine, not barrels, so can't really tell you about that.
 
Back
Top