another mistake/question

Dan, That's kind of hard to answer. How do you maintain the barrel? Is it ever empty? If so, was it washed and sulfured? If you washed it well and it smelled sweet (sweet means like wine, not funky) you are probably fine. Taste and smell your topping wine before adding it, always.

How does the wine in the barrel look, taste and smell now? Pull out a sample and put it in a wine glass, tilt it at a sharp angle and hold it up to a bright light. The edges should be clear, like water. There should be no tinge of brown, young red wine often looks blue/purple. Now swirl it up and get your nose in there and try to make sure there are no odd smells; anything that seem off, try to describe. As long as it doesn't taste like vinegar or just plain awful, don't worry much about the taste. Reds evolve like crazy.

If it looks, smells and tastes good, it is good. Don't forget to sulfite as necessary, barrel aged wines get more exposure to oxygen and sometimes need a shot of sulfite for protection.

Joe

Thanks Joe,

I've got a wine in there now that isn't too bad. Lots of tannin, no off flavors, looks clear and clean. Tastes like it will age very well.

The barrel has never been empty after the first batch. I've been pretty of top of sulfite, needs a little now but close to bottling, I'll do it then.

Thanks for your comments, I think I'm in good shape. My fourth wine will go in next week. How long to barrels last? This is a small barrel, I might need to add chips. If so, is the hassle of barrel aging worth it? Carbouys are pretty easy!

Dan

It all depends on what you want to get out to the barrel aging. You probably don't get much in the way of oak flavor after 2 to 3 years but that isn't the only things barrels do. There are theories about micro oxygenation which helps reds; more than that you can get some concentration of flavors and that is rarely a bad thing. A barrels life is technically as long as you are willing to deal with it. You can add chips or beans to get the oak flavors once that peters out, or leave it in longer. It's not the same but it's all relative to a point; if you put mediocre wine into a big money French barrel what you will get is mediocre wine with French oak notes. If you put great wine into a poorly built or maintained barrel you will ruin it. Barrels are work but if they weren't worth it no one would put up with them, they are one step below corks on the winemakers aggravation spectrum...

Carboys are easy, agreed. I only have one barrel and it's not much to talk about. It was badly made; never toasted. Don't EVER put good wine in an un-toasted barrel; I'm still recovering from that fiasco. It's full of sulfited acidulated water now. I may give it one more shot on a second wine I made or may use it for a sherry from French Colombard.

Joe

The only thing I would add from Joe's advice is that if you want to extend the life of a barrel, consider putting "clean" wine into the barrel.

I do not barrel my wine until around May. By that time most of the tartrates will have already precipitated out in the carboys (providing you have a cool cellar or equivalent).

Tartarates from "new" wine coat the inside of the barrel and do not afford the wine a chance to come into contact with the oak.

Hmmmm... and I thought the early oak contact was advantageous to sooner aging. By waiting until spring for first oak contact, doesn't that mean you've added another 6 months to the aging protocol to account for the 'oak integration' time?

What about removing the deposited tartrates in the spring after the cold stabilization is complete? You can rack the wine to another container, rinse the barrel to remove settled lees and 'loose tartrates', then fill it with 130F-160F hot water, soak for 15 minutes or so, followed by a good rinsing with cold water. Let the barrel drip dry, then refill it with sulfite-adjusted wine. The hot water short-soak seems to dissolve the precipitated tartrates coating pretty well for me.

How much of the barrel oakiness do I lose each time I do the hot water soak cleaning cycle? Commercial wineries do a hot water spray cleaning of the inside of the barrels at each racking. Are they noticeably shortening the useful oak-enhancing lifetime of the barrel when they do that cleaning?

Gene

Yes

If it works well for you then I would continue.

I think the water heater of most home wine makers would not have water in that temperature range.

Not the one I worked at.

Probably so but I am no expert.