Thanks Luc, I've been wanting to play with oak but did not really want to deal with wood chips, as they seem messy.
Troy, I just grabbed this off of Wikipedia. It says this is more about barrels then chips. Seems traditionally it was just the best/easiest wood for barrels and the article calls them the "most compatible" flavor.
Other wood types
Throughout history other wood types, including chestnut, pine, redwood, and acacia, have been used in crafting winemaking vessels, particular large fermentation vats. However none of these wood types possess the compatibility with wine that oak has demonstrated in combining its water tight, yet slightly porous, storage capabilities with the unique flavor and texture characteristic that it can impart to the wine that it is in contact with.[21] Chestnut is very high in tannins and is too porous as a storage barrel and must be coated with paraffin to prevent excessive wine loss through evaporation. Redwood is too rigid to bend into the smaller barrel shapes and imparts an unpleasant flavor. Acacia imparts a yellow tint to the wine. Other hardwoods like apple and cherry wood have an off putting smell.[22] Austrian winemakers have a history of using Acacia barrels. Historically, chestnut was used by Beaujolais, Italian and Portuguese wine makers.[23] Some Rhône winemakers still use paraffin coated chestnut barrels but the coating minimizes any effect from the wood making its function similar to a neutral concrete vessel. In Chile there are traditions for using barrel made of rauli wood but it is beginning to fall out of favor due to the musky scent it imparts on wine.[24]