Oak Advice

[Jwatson]

I have a WE Barolo that has been bulk aging for 6 months that I would
like to bottle in 1 month. I love oak and the Barolo needs more for my
liking. All I have is a 20 oz. bag of French Oak medium Toast Chips. I
know that chips impart oak a lot faster and less is required or you can
'over oak'. Any recommendations on how much and how long?

 

[Waldo]

I would normally say 3-4 ozs for a couple of monthsbut if you are wanting to bottle in a month I would say go ahead and up the amount to about 6ozs and monitor it closely after about 2 weeks so as to not over oak it. Stop justshort of where it tastes "oaky dokie" to you as it will intensify more with age. Oh yes, soak the chips inwater for a few hours before adding to the wine too. That really helps with the extraction

 

[tonyt]

As an oak monster myself I would warn about over oaking with chips. They say that the chips impart flavor quicker than cubes, spirals, staves and so on. Assuming that you used whatever oak came with the WE kit I would check very often. Consider also that some believe that oak taste subsides just a bit over time. There are several threads discussing that phenomena you might want to check out. Although with chips I'll bet there is mot much fading, if any. Happy oaking!