I am thinking of doing a Syrah frozen must bucket from California. I want to emphasize the fruit and go light on the oak. Any thoughts on the type of oak cubes to use? French? American? Light toast etc.
Thanks. I have used the Hungarian Med + with my Cab Franc and Merlot and was very pleased. French Med or medium + is another go to for me.I'm in the same school as you because I also believe oaking takes away from the fruitiness. I might recommend medium French or Hungarian and use spirals or staves instead of cubes. If you feel it's getting too oaky you can just remove them. Cubes are a lot more difficult.
Good advice on the distribution of the oak. I tend to go with medium plus, Hungarian or French. I’ve yet to use American.Use medium toast -- medium plus or dark toast may flavor the wine more than you want.
The wine stix experiment I did a while back leads me to believe the wine goes through cycles during aging with oak, so I'd rather leave the oak in longer, to get the most from the oak.
I prefer cubes as the amount used is highly configurable, although as Fred pointed out, getting the oak out of the wine isn't as easy. To maintain fruitiness, I'd go with 1/2 to 1 oz in 5/6 US gallons, although it may be best to err on the side of caution and start with 1/2 oz. Let the wine age 4 months, stir, and taste. If it's not enough oak flavoring, you can add 1/4 to 1/2 oz more.
I used 1 oz in a FWK Tavola Barbera (no skin packs) and it came out with good fruit. The Syrah will be a heavier wine, so it will handle more oak without the fruit being overpowered, although going light is best -- it's far easier to add more than to take some out.
Note: Wine doesn't have convection currents so the wine closest to the oak will absorb the oak flavoring, and wine away from the oak won't. I use cubes in neutral barrels and stir gently each time I topup the barrels, so the oakiness is distributed. Tasting the wine without stirring will give a false impression, depending on where in the container the wine is drawn from.
In the oak stix experiment I got more fruitiness from the American oak, vs the French or Hungarian. It was surprising. Generally I prefer Hungarian oak, but for this I'd use American. Note that I used Hungarian in my Barbera and I'm pleased with it, so there are no wrong answers here.
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PS. I was thinking about light American, as you suggested. I have never used American but I did note that the light toast is supposed to enhance the fruit.Thanks. I have used the Hungarian Med + with my Cab Franc and Merlot and was very pleased. French Med or medium + is another go to for me.
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