Wine aging in wood

We are racking the wines from the 2021 harvest into the barriques where they will be refined.

Here is an in-depth look at the operations to be carried out in the cellar and the choices to be made for refinement.

For our red DOC Bolgheri Agapanto , we decided to refine it for 12 months in barriques and tonneaux of fine-grained, medium-toasted, second-passage French oak. We will try to explain the reasons for our choices.

The refinement begins with the racking

Every November we transfer the previous vintage's wine from the wooden containers where it has been aged to the steel ones, combining the different grape varieties from the different barrels to create the blend chosen for that vintage.

We then wash the containers and fill them again with the new wine, keeping all the vines and parcels separate, so that each one can follow its own personal refinement path until November of the following year, when they will be combined in the blend.

We tried to differentiate the woods of barriques and tonneaux to bring more complexity to the wine. What does all this mean?

What are barriques and tonneaux?

Barriques are containers made of oak wood, plants of the genus Quercus , generally with a capacity of 225 litres, or exactly 300 bottles of 0.75 litres, commonly used in France for the refinement and transport of wine since the Middle Ages.

Tonneaux differ from barriques only in their higher capacity, and offer, for the same volume, a smaller surface in contact with the wine. The interaction between wine and wood will be less and therefore a less “woody” aroma will be obtained in the mouth and nose.

For the Ciliegiolo of our Agapanto we have chosen 500-litre tonneaux, but there are various formats, from 400 to 700 litres.

Choice of wood

A second choice to make is the wood from which the barrels are made.

Oak wood can in fact come from forests located in different countries and continents.

This means that, depending on the climate in which the plants grew, the wood will have a more or less fine grain and a variable oxygen permeability.

Generally, fine-grained wood is preferred for wines, especially if they are aged for a long time in barrels, regardless of their size, while coarse-grained wood is used for the refinement of whiskey or spirits.

Wood seasoning

Once the type of oak has been chosen, we move on to its seasoning: the oak trunks are cut into planks that are left to season for 2 to 5 years in the open air to allow the atmospheric agents to treat the wood and its tannins, eliminating the most bitter and unpleasant ones.

The tannins

The plants, in their woody parts, are rich in tannins , polyphenolic compounds that have various properties; those that interest us most for wine purposes are the protective action against oxidation and the sensation of bitterness and astringency that they can confer.

The tannins we find in wine can be those that come from the stalks and seeds, therefore deriving from the grape itself, or those that come from the wood used for aging.

To obtain less astringent tannins from grapes, we must evaluate their flavor during the ripening of the fruit on the plant: the riper the grape, the softer and silkier the tannins.

The tannins due to the refinement in wood instead depend on the type of tree chosen, the seasoning of the planks and the toasting of the wood itself.

After seasoning, the planks are cut into staves of the right size to form the barriques or tonneaux.

Afterwards they are assembled in the circular shape of the classic barrel, fixing iron rings to the ends, but without closing them with lids.

The barrels are then positioned vertically around a sort of brazier with a fairly lively fire. The heat of the fire inside softens the wood and allows the staves to bend more easily and other hoops to be fixed to complete the shape.

At this point we proceed with the fundamental part of the whole process:

The roasting

The created barriques are placed on another brazier, this time at a less lively flame. The intensity of the heat and the duration of this treatment will give rise to the different types of toasting. It is at this stage that the polyphenols in the wood are modified to produce the aromas that we will taste in the wine, such as vanilla, coconut, coffee, spices or leather.

If you choose to age a wine in wood for a long time, you generally prefer a higher toasting: in this case the most superficial layers of the wood are as if cauterized by fire and the wine will take longer to penetrate into the deeper layers and thus find its balance with the polyphenols.

A wood that is not very toasted releases its aroma more quickly, therefore, at a first tasting after a few weeks of the wine having been in barriques, it may seem to have too great an impact on the wine.

In reality, to achieve a perfect balance between the aromas of the wood and those of the wine, it will be necessary to wait a fairly long time, which can vary between a few months and a few years.

Throughout this refinement period, it is important to periodically taste the wine in order to define the ideal moment to conclude its passage in wood.

Not to be underestimated, it is also the time for the wine to “settle” after it has been removed from the barriques and bottled: in this period, called “in glass” refinement, a further harmony between the aromas and taste of the wine is recreated.

Aging is a practice that has great complexity and beauty as it offers the producer the possibility to play with many variables to obtain the wine he has in mind.

One of these is also the choice of cooperage where to get supplies.

Each of them, although having some characteristics in common, has a unique way of treating and working the wood that differs from all the others.

Furthermore, the choices of wood, seasoning, toasting and length of time the wine spends in the barrique depend above all on the grape variety being used.

But the most important variable in determining the refinement choices is the sensitivity of the producer and his winemaker who together decide the imprint and soul to give to the wines, characterizing them and making them unique.

by Silvia Cirri and Linda Franceschi