Here it is! The third installment of Wine For Normal People Radio.
Sadly, the intro lies this time...we ran over to more like 35 minutes since this is a huge topic (and one that we STILL only sc ratched the surface on).
In this episode Rick and I talk about oak and its influence on wine, and then some. We discuss New Zealand's plans to go organic and the grape of the week is Pinot Gris. Check it out!
2 comments:
I heard somewhere that some wineries actually dip oak into the stainless steel vats that the wine is stored in?! Apparantly it has the same effect as storing the wine in oak barrels.
David,
Great point. We were running really long in the episode so I thought it best not to go into this, but you are absolutely right. On lower priced wines, to get the oak flavor (this is done a lot in the New World, per our comment in the podcast about how New World producers use oak as a flavoring tool) there are two "cheapie" methods used. The first is to take slats of wood that would normally be turned into expensive barrels and throw them into cement or stainless steel tanks to add a touch of flavor. The other is to actually use toast wood chips (oak) to achieve the same effect. If you don't have to pay someone to assemble a barrel, you save a ton of money, so this is a quick and easy option to get the flavors you want and still hit your price point.
Many wines under $10 use this method. It's no surprise that traditionalists think it's totally crazy and dumb (mostly because you lose the other good things about storing in oak barrels with greater oak to wine surface area ratios -- tannin transfer, color retention, time for the wine to kind of bond with itself and taste good). Modernists see it as a fabulous way to save time, money, and please the customer.
My take: if it tastes good and you like it, drink it! What do you think?
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Elizabeth
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