Top: The barrels
at Margaux
Middle: Glen Goodall, Winemaker,
Xanadu Wines, Margaret River, Australia
Bottom: Daniel Lawton, of the
wine-broking house of Tastet et Lawton,
established in 1739
Whether fermented in it, matured in it, or stored
in it, wood has always played an important
role in the production of French wine. Despite
a variety of synthetic materials on the market,
almost all the great red and many of the great
white wines in the world are matured in oak
casks.
For one thing wood is porous to air—this allows
very slow oxidation—and this in turn leads
to the development of a wine’s character.
All
this depends on what a winemaker wants to achieve—when
used to its best advantage oak can contribute
to the complex aromas and flavors so typical
of fine wine—vanilla in red and coconut
in white.
The Price
However there is a price to pay for
quality and authenticity—and maturing
wine in high quality new casks involves considerable
expense—very considerable expense. For
instance, new casks can as much as double the
price of bulk wine per hectoliter in southern
France and wineries in California estimate
it can add as much as four dollars to a bottle
of wine.
While great wine estates are able
to absorb the expense of this method of maturation
many other producers have found it to be a
very heavy financial burden.
Legislation
New World
winemaking legislation allows producers to
add oak shavings during the fermentation process—a
technique they argue that gives the wine the
much desired oakey flavor—a perfect substitute
for the real thing at a fraction of the cost.
Many French producers have protested that this
puts them at a great disadvantage when competing
in the international market—as the use
of wood shavings are prohibited under French
law. However, after heavy lobbying and even
heavier loss in sales it now appears the Institut
National des Appellations d’Origine
are preparing to rescind this piece of legislation.
While
this news is greeted with much delight by many
of the smaller producers, a spokesman for the
great Bordeaux chateaux frowned upon using
shavings “ridiculous—a practice invented to
undermine our national savoir-faire.”
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