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Paul E. Lehmann

wrote:

> On Sep 5, 8:54*am, gene >
> wrote:
>> wrote:
>>
>> <clipped>
>>
>>
>>
>> > This has been an interesting thread and I
>> > appreciate all the comments. Just to add my 2
>> > liters worth here, I haven't tried the wines
>> > from Virginia but have heard some nice
>> > things. As for the winery that gets new
>> > barrels every year, I don't understand why.
>> > First of all the expense would be
>> > considerable and there is a lot of aging left
>> > in a wine barrel. If I am not mistaken, you
>> > should be able to use a barrel for 5 years.
>> > Then I would hope they re-sell it to the home
>> > winemaker, like me who is glad to get a bit
>> > more oak out of it. A new barrel each year
>> > would greatly over oak the wine I would
>> > think.
>>
>> <clipped>
>>
>> > Salute!
>> > Orlando
>>
>> Are you sure you'll be extracting oak flavor
>> from an oak barrel after 5 years use? If I'm
>> not mistaken, they're generally considered to
>> be 'neutral' for oak extraction after the
>> fourth year (some even after the third year).
>>
>> You'll still get micro-oxygenation and flavor
>> concentration (due to evaporation) after that,
>> so the barrel is still useful, but *I think
>> you'd have to add a new stave or three (i.e.
>> part of a "chain-of-oak" or equivalent) to get
>> noticeable oak flavor.
>>
>> Gene
>
> Gene -
> I was not sure about using a barrel for 5 years,
> so I appreciate your comment. While I personally
> wouldn't attempt to add staves to a barrel, oak
> probably should be added pehaps oak spirals
> could be used. I don't have any experience with
> them but I would imagine that they would enhance
> the oak of an old barrel. Orlando

One winery in Northern Virginia has been using the
spirals in spent barrels with (IMHO) great
success.

I am using them in my amateur production also. I
screwed a stainless eye screw into the bottom of
silicon barrel bung and tie and hang spirals
using stainless wire from the bung. It is very
easy to extract this way and pull when necessary
without fishing for bags of chips in the bottom
of the barrel.