Nov
13
Barrels
Filed Under Uncategorized
I love it when I get to this time of year in the winery. I have been racking the 2008 wines over the last few weeks, and it is a really good time to have a look at the wines, and also to compare the effects of the individual barrels on each wine. We use Sirugue barriques here, a French cooperage, and we use a range of forests and toasting levels. Having experimented with a few coopers in the past, we keep coming back to Sirugue. Of the new barriques used for the 2008 wines, it is very obvious which barrels, say, are contributing chunkier tannins, and which are giving some astringent characters… which are a bit too “soft” on the wines, and which are giving some really nice mouthfeel. The same type of barrel - same cooper, oak and toasting level - can have a different effect on Shiraz compared to Tempranillo, for example, and so I take note of this, to refer back to it later. I also make a few decisions about matching oak and wine - for example, some of the Shiraz is in barriques with very boxy tannins, and some heavy toast characters, which, after tasting the wines, I reckon will suit the Petit Verdot better. Of course, we blend all the barrels of one variety together at racking, so that what might be a little too tannic in one barrique ends up complementing the whole very well.
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