Re: Callaway Estate 1976 Cabernet Sauvignon

"Nils Gustaf Lindgren" skrev i melding news:2hzJl.8254$ snipped-for-privacy@newsb.telia.net...

From Wiki: Quercus alba, the White Oak, is one of the pre-eminent hardwoods of eastern North America. It is a long-lived oak in the family Fagaceae, native to eastern North America White Oaks have cellular structures called tyloses. Tyloses give the wood a closed cellular structure, which does not allow water to pass. Tyloses are cell ingrowths of living wood parenchyma into the cavities of xylem conducting cells. The white oaks, with tyloses, are used in making wine and whiskey barrels as well as outdoor furniture. Red Oaks do not have the tyloses, thus white oak barrels are used in wine and whiskey production to prevent leaking, which would be the result of using red oaks. It has been used for construction, shipbuilding, cooperage, agricultural implements, and interior finish of houses.[2]

I have no idea why they speak of German white oak, however...

Anders

I answered you last night, but the post never appeared, so I will try again. Anders gave correct information. I do have information from an interview with Eli Callaway by Robert Benson in "Great Winemakers of California " with a copyright of 1977. The book likely is long out of print.Callaway states that they use German white oak from trees grown on Spessart mountian which is the highest mountain in Germany that grows oak.They selected this oak because it grows slower than anywhere in Europe, Therefore the oak is harder and after steam leaching it imparts less of its tannin character to the wine. The 60 gallon barrels were specially made in Germany for Callaway.

Interesting.. I see that the Spessart rises to near 600m (1920feet) which is not all that high. Spessart is a nature park with some old sections with up to 400 year old oaks. There is a small problem, however, no white oak there... It is an American species, you know, not grown in Europe... Anders

Eli Callaway called it German white oak both on the bottle back label and in an interview. Perhaps he just means the color of the wood. In any event one should use the proper scientific name to avoid confusion of this sort.

Here we go again. I responded to you several hours ago, but the message has not shown up. Perhaps this follow up will appear soon.

There is a reference to German white oak both on the back label and in the interview with Eli Callaway I mentioned. Of course use of proper scientific names for the oak species would prevent any confusion. When I go to a home improvement store here, I usually see only white oak and red oak boards for sale. The white oak boards are fairly close to white in color with a bit of yellow,and the red oak has much russet color. I think many people take the term red or white oak to mean the color of the oak wood and not a specific oak tree with a scientific name. This may have been what Eli Callaway was thinking. Unless he lived to an exceptionally old age, one likely never could find out .

Here we go again. I responded to you several hours ago, but the message has not shown up. Perhaps this follow up will appear soon. If extra old posts appear in the future, you will know what happened.

There is a reference to German white oak both on the back label and in the interview with Eli Callaway I mentioned. Of course use of proper scientific names for the oak species would prevent any confusion. When I go to a home improvement store here, I usually see only white oak and red oak boards for sale. The white oak boards are fairly close to white in color with a bit of yellow,and the red oak has much russet color. I think many people take the term red or white oak to mean the color of the oak wood and not a specific oak tree with a scientific name. This may have been what Eli Callaway was thinking. Unless he has lived to an exceptionally old age, one likely never could find out exactly what he had in mind when he associated the words German and white oak..

I kave posted several times, but the post do not appear. If they all suddenly appear, you know what happeded.

I don't know what Eli Callaway had in mind in the 1977 interview when he associated German with white oak. Considering he was retired then, we likely will never know for sure unless he is still alive at an exceptionally old age. German white oak was also used on the back label of the wine bottle.

When I go to home improvement stores, I usually see white oak, which is fairly light in color and red oak which has much russet in the color. However white oak is not specific as there are several variations of white oak trees. There are many kinds of oak trees in the US including white oaks, red oaks, pin oaks, post oaks, black oaks, etc. I think many people associate the color of the wood with the terms white oak and red oak rather than with a specific variety. I think this may be what Callaway did. I think the problem, if any, is that a specific complete scientific names were not used.A

Ely Callaway, the eponymous founder of Callaway Golf as well as the winery, died in 2001, so I am afraid that no clarification will come from that source. I think that your explanation sounds reasonable, though. Perhaps if his company had made woods from wood instead of metal, he wouldn't have made that mistake ;-)

Mark Lipton (satisfied owner of a set of Callaway Steelhead "woods")

"cwdjrxyz" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@g31g2000pra.googlegroups.com...

I think you are right. Looking around, I found this page

and you'll see a discussion of the various oak woods (Types and Characteristics of Cask's Wood)

Anders