View Single Post
  #8 (permalink)   Report Post  
Posted to rec.crafts.winemaking
Doug[_1_] Doug[_1_] is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 86
Default Chilean Carmenere/ Cabernet Sauvignon Extended instructions?

Joe -
I expect that kits use oak "dust" or very small chips as they
impart their "oakiness" to the wine much faster than larger cubes,
staves, etc. I don't know where WE gets their oak "dust". While oak
cubes and staves may be better in general, I think if you took a bunch
of StaVin cubes and ground them into dust, you'd have pretty high-
quality dust, so I'm reluctant to make too-sweeping generalizations.
Also, the kits always seem to have you add the oak prior to
fermentation. This supposedly has an impact on the wine, but doesn't
tend to result in as much oaky flavor as adding oak later, during bulk
aging.

I can say that one kit in particular (the WE Limited Edition Petit
Verdot from several years ago) used (as I recall) four packages of
oak, and for the first 18 months or so that was about all you could
taste. ("Chateau Plywood"). At about 24 months, that changed, and at
this point (3+ yrs) you can scarcely taste any oak - you really have
to hunt for it. But the wine is fabulous -- I keep hoping they'll
bring it back some day. :-)

Doug