WineXpert Oak

[James]

I read George's article about oak in the last FVW newletter. I just did the last racking of a Santa Ynez Syrah and I have put it aside for bulk aging. I'm interested in oaking it. I don't care at all for heavy oak"flavor" but I am always interested inadding a little depth or complexity ("twang" in south Alabama speak)to the finished product. This kit came with oak powder that I added per instructions.


Is now the time to attempt this?


What's the recommended proceedure?


This will be a good wine if I do nothing. Do I stand to loose more than I gain?

 

[smurfe]

The Oak powder that came with the kit will give the wine the oak characteristics of the commercial wines. Some people like to add extra oak flavor to give more of a mouth feel or body to the wine. To achieve this you add oak beans (cubes) to the secondary while you bulk age. You then sample the wine occasionally and remove the oak when you get to the intensity you desire. Be warned it is very easy to over oak a wine doing this.


My suggestion is to try the wine now to see if it has the oak level you like. If you want it stronger add 2-3 ounces of oak cubes to the carboy s it bulk ages. The type of oak is dependent on what your kit originally came with. I have only added extra oak to one kit in the past. A Vintners Reserve Cabernet. It really helped this wine out. I have not made another kit that I felt needed extra oak to it.


Smurfe

 

[Angell Wine]

If you have some more carboys why don't you split it up into 3 or 2 gallon carboys and try some with or with out. Some heavy or light toast. However you want.

 

[James]

Angell, I think that's a great idea. I don't have any 3 gal. carboys but I will soon.


When you put oak into a carboy with the wine it seems like they would float up in the neck. Is this the case? If it is, is it OK? If it is not OK then how do I solve the problem?


James

 

[masta]

They will float at first and after some time they sink a bit and some will sink to the bottom...just don't overfill the carboy.


Another tip is to mix the wine before bottling as the wine closest to the oak cubes will be stronger than the rest.

 

[James]

Masta,


I have racked this wine and set it aside for aging. Should I wait and try the oak a few weeks before bottling or should I do it now so the wine can age in bulk after I've oaked it? Again, I'm not after aheavy oak taste, I'm just thinking a week or two? with oak could adda slight bit of charactor.


Good tip about mixing. I usually rack from the carboy back to my primary with spigot for bottling, so I think that would accomplish the mixing.

 

[masta]

The oak cubes will continue to impart flavor to the wine up to at least 8 weeks. If you start now you need to test in say 2 weeks and then check weekly until it reaches the flavor you want then rack again off the oak.

 

[maize]

Another way to oak is to use the spirals. These work quicker, but a big plus is that you can "hang" a spiral in the carboy and pull it out at any time without having to rack off of the cubes. I would think 1 spiral for about 2 weeks would get you close to what you want. The drawback is that this gives you too good an excuse to taste the wine on a weekly basis.