Prior to crafting barrels from oak, writes Aiden Schwarzer, wine was fermented, stored and transported in clay amphorae but these are heavy, difficult to move, fragile, and if your ship sinks… your amphorae sink!
At some point, somebody had the idea of fashioning barrels out of wood. Easier to manoeuvre and store and in the case of a sea-borne catastrophe, they float! Besides the logistics, wine that spent time in wood tasted better – you can just imagine how transformative this would have been for inconsistent, raw wines made hundreds of years ago.
How oak affects a wine depends on many variables. The origin of the oak, the size and age of the barrel, how it is seasoned and how much you decide to toast it. Then the winemaking part – do you ferment in oak, or mature the wine in oak, or both – and for how long? Simply put, oak allows for a very slow oxidation, which encourages structural changes in wine: a perception of lower acidity due to changes in pH levels, and polymerisation of tannins give a softer, more supple feel.
Oak use is often most noticeable in white wines and herein lies the issue with most people who say, “I don’t like oaky wines”. Oak tends to stand out more in white wines because they have more delicate fruit and are less densely structured than red wines. The most severe examples would be in traditional white Rioja, where wines can spend many years in oak barrels and thus primary fruits become more golden, softer, creamier and spicier, and the oxidative effects of the barrels bring a distinct nuttiness.
It tends to be the richer, more concentrated white wines that will be put into barrel, commonplace in Burgundy’s Côte d’Or, less so in Chablis. The 1990s saw a rise in New World producers looking to capture some of the magic of White Burgundy by combining their sun-drenched, ripe Chardonnay fruit with new oak – it was incredibly successful for a period but soon became too much of a good thing.
The effects of oak on wine are now far better understood, lessons from the past have been learned, and we have seen a notable decrease in the use of oak, in all styles, over the past twenty years. We are in an age of transparency and provenance, where the character of a varietal, or site, is prized almost exclusively, and thus a focus on stainless steel, a return to clay amphorae, and experimentation with concrete and glass vessels. Oak has its place and when used sympathetically, it complements a wine in terms of texture, aroma and flavour. It certainly isn’t something to fear!
If you like oaky wine, you’ll love:
Burrowing Owl Chardonnay, Okanagan Valley
Ripe melon and peach fruit on the nose and palate balanced with subtle nutty oak flavours and good savoury character. Good mineral acidity on the finish gives balance with excellent complexity.
Kumeu River Ray's Road Chardonnay, Hawke's Bay
A lovely weight of fruit here with some fine and elegant structure supporting it. Orchard fruits with citrus undertones and a wonderfully elegant finish.