Paul E. Lehmann wrote:
Joe Sallustio wrote:

I've got a wine in there now that isn't too
bad. Lots of tannin, no
off flavors, looks clear and clean. Tastes
like it will age very well.

The barrel has never been empty after the first
batch. I've been pretty of top of sulfite,
needs a little now but close to bottling, I'll
do it then.

Thanks for your comments, I think I'm in good
shape. My fourth wine
will go in next week. How long to barrels
last? This is a small
barrel, I might need to add chips. If so, is
the hassle of barrel
aging worth it? Carbouys are pretty easy!

Dan
It all depends on what you want to get out to
the barrel aging. You probably don't get much
in the way of oak flavor after 2 to 3 years
but that isn't the only things barrels do.
There are theories about micro oxygenation which
helps reds; more than that you can get some
concentration of flavors and that is rarely a
bad thing. A barrels
life is technically as long as you are willing
to deal with it. You can add chips or beans to
get the oak flavors once that peters out, or
leave it in longer. It's not the same but it's
all relative to a point; if you put mediocre
wine into a big money French barrel what
you will get is mediocre wine with French oak
notes. If you put great wine into a poorly
built or maintained barrel you will ruin it.
Barrels are work but if they weren't worth it no
one would put up with them, they are one step
below corks on the winemakers aggravation
spectrum...

Carboys are easy, agreed. I only have one
barrel and it's not much to
talk about. It was badly made; never toasted.
Don't EVER put good wine in an un-toasted
barrel; I'm still recovering from that fiasco.
It's full of sulfited acidulated water now. I
may give it one more shot on a second wine I
made or may use it for a sherry from French
Colombard.

Joe

The only thing I would add from Joe's advice is
that if you want to extend the life of a barrel,
consider putting "clean" wine into the barrel.

I do not barrel my wine until around May. By that
time most of the tartrates will have already
precipitated out in the carboys (providing you
have a cool cellar or equivalent).

Tartarates from "new" wine coat the inside of the
barrel and do not afford the wine a chance to
come into contact with the oak.

Hmmmm... and I thought the early oak contact was advantageous to sooner
aging. By waiting until spring for first oak contact, doesn't that mean
you've added another 6 months to the aging protocol to account for the
'oak integration' time?

What about removing the deposited tartrates in the spring after the cold
stabilization is complete?
You can rack the wine to another container, rinse the barrel to remove
settled lees and 'loose tartrates', then fill it with 130F-160F hot
water, soak for 15 minutes or so, followed by a good rinsing with cold
water. Let the barrel drip dry, then refill it with sulfite-adjusted
wine. The hot water short-soak seems to dissolve the precipitated
tartrates coating pretty well for me.

How much of the barrel oakiness do I lose each time I do the hot water
soak cleaning cycle? Commercial wineries do a hot water spray cleaning
of the inside of the barrels at each racking. Are they noticeably
shortening the useful oak-enhancing lifetime of the barrel when they do
that cleaning?

Gene