Greg,
I am of the opinion that you are correct, but I dont have the
trials/research to back these assumptions. All I can say is that through my
experieces that adding oak later... well it tastes like oak instead of an
intergral part of the wine. Just my experience which I think is important,
but not the difinitive answer as wine making is a very fluid and developing
process. Someone might like the taste of an oak plank.... I do not. HTH
John Dixon
"Greg Cook" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"J Dixon" wrote:

Greg,
I used to just add the Oak after Primary so I could monitor the
"oakiness" of the wine. I since, on the advice of Tom S started adding a
handful of Oak to 5-6 gal (french in my case) to the primary, and
lightly
rinsing it at racking and then add it back into the racked wine.
The best way I can describe the difference is that it was a lot
smoother tasting and seemed as you said more "intergrated" into the
wine. My
concern initially was that how much do you want to "over oak" the wine
before enough is enough to get it right after it mellows out? For me
that
was hard to judge because I was not used to Oaking my wine as a general
rule. In conclusion I have decided that the oak seems more naturally
intergrated into the wine when it is added from the start versus later
on.
Yes you can judge the oak more readily when it is added after
fermentation,
but the taste is definitely more course when the oak is added later on
in my
trials.
The tip from Tom S in regard to Oaking in my opinion is dead on.
HTH
John Dixon
"Tom S" wrote in message
om...

"Paul E. Lehmann" wrote in message
...
I know of at least one commercial winery that puts some oak chips in
the
primary fermentatin bins and then pumps into somewhat old barrels
after
pressing. I think it all depends on the age of the barrels and how
much
oak
extraction is wanted. I think the oak has a better chance of
"integrating"
if some is put in the primary fermentation.

Exactly right! That's why barrel fermented Chardonnay (e.g.) tastes
different from tank fermented Chardonnay that is subsequently barrel
aged.
The oak flavor is more tightly integrated into the structure of the
wine -
partly at least because the yeast tends to fine the harsh wood
tannins.

Tom S

Excellent information. Thanks for the comments. Would it be safe to say
that oaking after fermentation should be done more conservatively since
it doesn't integrate as well?

--
Greg Cook
http://homepage.mac.com/gregcook/Wine

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