We have all witnessed consumer packaging opting for “lightweight” solutions: thin walled water bottles, flexible pouches for detergents, and even thinner wine bottles. At the recent Unified Wine Symposium in Sacramento, I was surprised to hear of another trend in the wine industry: lightweight oak wine barrels, made with thinner wood staves. Many people know wine is often fermented in oak barrels. Oak barrels do three things to wine. They allow for oxygen exposure, which assists with maturation. They also provide tannins that give the wine structure. Finally, depending on the level of toast and age of the barrel, they also impart certain flavors. How these factors are managed depends on the winemaker.
The effect of oak barrels gets further complicated by the thickness of barrel staves, which can have a profound impact. Thinner staves increase the amount of oxygen the wine is exposed to, while thicker staves lessen oxidization.
“The most important things that barrels do for a wine are provide oxygen and stabilization,” says James Mantone, co-owner and winemaker at Syncline Wine Cellars. Mantone, who works heavily with Rhône varieties, among other grapes. “I think that the least important thing that barrels do for wine is flavor.” For his wines, Mantone is looking to limit flavor impact as much as possible. “Why work really hard in the vineyards to produce something distinctive and then add a bunch of purchased flavors?” Some varieties, like Cabernet Sauvignon, often see a larger percentage of new oak, which has a stronger impact on the wine than used oak. “Cabernet can integrate that new oak tannin and flavor, certainly better than Rhône varietals, but I think you still have to be conservative with it if you want to project the sense of the vineyard,” says Morgan Lee, co-owner and winemaker at Two Vintners.
Stainless steel as an option:
Many winemakers ferment their wines in open-top stainless steel squares or perhaps open or closed stainless steel tanks. But, in addition to fermentation, some also choose to age their wines in stainless steel. This is particularly true of white wines.
“I use stainless steel on my white wines to capture the essence of the fruit in a cleaner, brighter fashion than, say, using something that would mask some of those flavors a bit, like oak,” says Sean Boyd, owner and winemaker at Sightglass Cellars.
Here at Skolnik Industries, we know that people ferment and age wine in our stainless steel wine barrels. Note that our stainless steel wine barrels are reusable, easy to clean, and recyclable at the end of their service life. Check out the full line of our Stainless Steel Wine Drums here.