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Oaking Your Wine the Right Way
from: Maxx Guide to WineSpecific wines definitely benefit if oak chips are added, including Merlots, Pinot Noir, Chianti, Chardonays, Cabernets, Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Burgundy, and Fume Blanc.
Oaking is used to develop a wine that's quite complex. How complex is greatly determined by the type of oak used along with the wine itself. Oak will provide a wide variety of flavors to wine including coconut, vanilla and even spices such as cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon.
Oak can sometimes add a somewhat earthy tone. The type of flavor added to your wine depends a lot on the type of oak used. For instance, if American oak is used with white wines, such as Merlot, it tends to add an aroma decidedly vanilla in nature. In general most oak used for flavoring wine is either American or French. Hungarian and Yugoslavian oaks are also increasingly being used as well.
Wine used to be oaked by placing it into an oak barrel where it stayed until it reached the aroma and taste desired. There were few ways to control the process other than the type of oak chosen and the size and age of the barrel. A vintner could also choose a toasted or charred barrel. This process usually took a long time and older barrels could take even longer.
Currently, oaking wine has shifted from using just oak barrels to using oak pieces, which has made it easier and more affordable for home wine makers to oak their wines. Today, winemakers can choose from oak chips as well as oak beans and oak powder for oaking their wines without having to worry about the expense of using large barrels.
Determine first which method you think will best suit your purpose since each method presents both advantages and disadvantages. To begin with, oak chips are often preferred because they're easily available and come in a variety of types. The problem with oak chips is that once you've put them into your carboy, you have to figure out a way to get them out.
Oak powder works well during the fermentation process and you don't need a lot of oak powder to achieve the best results. On the other hand, if you aren't careful, you could easily over oak your wine. Plus it can be difficult to rack your wine using oak powder.
When oaking your wine you must decide when you wish to add the oak. Generally, oak is added either during fermentation or after the wine has been racked and you're ready for bulk aging of your wine.
Oak powder definitely works best if you oak during the fermentation process. Over time oak powder absorbs wine and will eventually sink to the bottom of the container. If you're doing a small batch of wine, you shouldn't use any more than 20 grams of oak powder per gallon. You may even want to use less.
If you're planning to oak your wine during bulk aging, oak chips tend to work best. Use between two and four ounces of chips for every six gallons of wine. It's best to sanitize your chips before putting them into your wine by using Campden Tablets. Soak the chips in some water, add a tablet and allow them to sit for a few minutes.
Finally, when trying a new process when making wine, start small, especially when oaking since you can always add more. However, it's literally impossible to remove them once applied.
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