Why is oak the predominant wood used for wine and liquor barrels? Why don’t they use ash, maple, walnut, cherry, pine, cedar, beechwood or any other woods?
Budweiser uses beechwood chips for flavoring, I don’t know if any other brewers use wood chips or not. If oak is used to impart a flavor then wouldn’t cedar impart a flavor as well? Most woods swell when exposed to liquids, does oak swell more and this is the reason for its’ usage?
Cedar would gag a horse. Haven’t you smelled cedar chests?
Cherrywood splits quite readily.
Not sure about the others, but if it’s not for a specific reason then it must be for dollar value.
A few points to consider:[list=A][li]Oak has a combination of tight grain and mild “flavor” making it ideal for the task of food storage.[/li]
[li]Oak trees were once very common and their large size yielded a good quantity of wood that was consistent within the lot for its quality and performance.[/li]
[li]The tight grain of oak reduced its tendency to swell or distort due to weathering or warping. Thus, once shaped and placed, the staves would rarely deform or leak. This provided a degree of hermeticity from bacteria and other contaminants so common in the less hygienic days of old.[/li]
[li]When you consider the value of an entire barrel of wine or liquor, (or even fresh water if you were a sailor) oak’s strength made it very desirable as a storage container. It could better withstand the rough handling of early transportation (wagons and ships) and loading by hand without leakage or failure of the container. Minor knocks and impacts that would crack or fracture other less strong woods are shrugged off by oak. This is especially important when you consider that a fully loaded oak barrel could weigh hundreds of pounds. A barrel, merely due to its own mass could roll about and splinter if it was made of weaker wood.[/li]
[li]The natural tannins in oak, combined with its hardness made it less susceptible to penetration or infestation by insects or rodents. While conferring this resistance, these same tannins also gave desirable flavors and even lent a small amount of preservative quality to the contents.[/li]
[li]This durability also meant that such an expensive container as an oak barrel would be reusable many times before having to be replaced.[/li]
[li]These same tannins also provide very nice accompanying note to certain wines and liquors. Due to the tightness of grain, these flavors were released more slowly and therefore allowed a greater degree of control over just how pervasive the “wood” notes would be in the finished product. This is especially important when you consider that swelling, due to exposure to liquids, would accelerate the release of these same flavors.[/li]
[li]For certain applications where a layer of activated charcoal is desired for absorption of flavors or odors, charring the interior did not significantly reduce the strength of the barrel. Similarly, the slow burning nature of oak also allowed for more latitude during the charring process without risk of destroying the valuable barrel.[/li][/list]
Anyway, those are just off the top of my head. Someone else can do some online research if they wish.
Thanks Zenster, that makes sense, oak was readily available and is indeed a very tough wood. It would make sense to manufacture a barrel that could tolerate shipping and would also be reusable.
On another note, I rather enjoy the aroma of cedar but I don’t know if wine or liquor aged in it would be palatable. The cedar used for cedar roofing shakes smells different than the cedar used to line chests and closets. And in another use of wood products for beverages, in Japan, they serve Saki in these cubicle shaped wooden cups.
My pleasure Fletch. As to the use of wood cups for sake, I think that would have more to do with Shinto traditions of a grain product being served in a similarly organic or living vessel, or some such balderdash.
The scent of the pine wood might be a reason as well. The scent would tend to volatilize when the hot sake came in contact with the wood.
For that same reason, I’m sure it is due to the use of pine storage barrels that the famous Greek wine Retsina has it’s characteristic flavor. If you’ve ever tasted the mastic flavor of Retsina you’ll know why so many other cultures use oak.
Damn you Zenster… You answered far more completely than I could have. And I qwas all prepared to show my knowledge of oak.
IIRC, in California, Redwood was used to make wine barrels. Apparently, it did not affect the taste of the wine at all
Zenster got all of the easy ones, so I’ll just chime in with some trivia:
Some wineries use oak chips in stainless steel tanks to impart the same tastes/tannins.
There are considerable differences in the taste of different oaks. French oak and American oak impart considerably different tastes, and the winemakers job includes knowing which to use. “100% new french oak” sells better, though.
The amount of tannins imparted vary greatly over time. Some wineries using “staving”, where individual staves of the cask are replaced to get just the right mix of tannins. This is extremely common when making cognac and brandy, and is used when making some wines. I’m pretty sure Mondavi uses staving in Opus one.
ColinDo you have the names of any winery that uses something other than oak or stainless? I’m not disputing your claim; I’d just like to try the wine.
My understanding is that you must use white oak instead of red oak in wine barrels due to the cell structures of the woods. Red oak will let the wine seep out of the ends of the boards (staves).
The use of Redwood, as far as I know, was quite limited. I don’t think it was used for maturing wine, just for storing. I beleive the insides of the giant casks used for such had to be sealed with pitch or something. I have been to many wineries, but have never seen redwood “barrels” per se; only casks (“barrels” big enough to stand up in). And those casks are very much more the exception than the rule.
I’ve probably said this eleswhere, but in Greece, at one time almost everyone made wine at home (on their farms or what have you). They didn’t/don’t have the right kinds of trees in abundance to make non-seeping liquid storage barrels, and so would seal what they did have with a lot of pine pitch. This pitch gives a very distinctive (pretty awful) turpentine flavor to the wines in question, but they have become traditional anyway. Go to a bigger liquor store and look under Greek wines for “Retsina”. It is considered a mark of hospitality to offer geusts Retsina.
If you’re interested, there is a oak barrel making company in Missouri (can’t remember the town, closer to the Oklahoma border; we were following Route 66 and found it) that has big tours of its plant and a small wine shop attached. We stopped in on a Sunday so the plant was down but they have big picture windows where you can see into the plant. It was pretty interesting.
JCHeckler -
That’s what causes that taste! I should have figured it out, but I’ve only had retsina once.
It is actually an interesting taste, and it is only for the first second.
I don’t think redwood barrels have been used since the 1950s