Oak, the good the bad and the old

Oak is becoming quite a focus area, and more and more tonneliers are now delivering oak to the experimenting vignerons.

In general, better oak is used, and a lighter toasting is employed.

There is a lot of focus on the new oaks, but less so on the older barrels used for the elevage.

Old barrels also have flavours

An old oak barrel will always have certain kinds of flavours, and older barrels can be quite dominant, depending on the toast (chauf) and the tonnelier.

So there is no way around it … older barrels can make or taint a wine even if they are 5 wines-old or more.

I tasted a wine from a 2015 barrel – first used in 2015 – on a 2023 wine, and I was still able to identify the vague taste of the tonnelier … same tonnelier also tasted on a 2023 wine made in a 2017 barrel … also noticeable and not working with the wine. Some old oaks should never be used again …

These examples show that all oaks are important, and if there are strongly flavoured older or old oaks, they need to be used with prudence.

And yes, we speak about François Frères in these examples, and while these oaks perform beautifully at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti … they can overpower a smaller wine … even when the oaks are old.

If you need a reminder of how great François Frères can be, taste Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée Saint-Vivant 2009!