Oak ageing is an important ingredient in the production of a quality wine, this all wine lovers are well aware of. Important yes, but more and more winemakers are trying to make the oak as discreet as possible in their wines. The oak ageing is needed, they say, to stabilize the wine and to give it a special mouth feeling. But they do not want too much oak aromas anymore, be it vanilla, coconut, coffee or chocolate.
The wine producers spend a lot of time and effort (and money) on finding coopers that understand their wines. Often they work with several different coopers because everyone works differently and blending different barrels give a better balance to the wine.
Read more about what different winemakers, including Megan Schofield at the Robert Mondavi Winery, think about oak ageing on winesandvines.com.
