oak in german whites?

No, to have noticable oak in a Gewurtz or Riesling is extremely unusual and is generally considered to be unpleasant.

Ben

About the only white wine I've ever heard of oaking is Chardonnay. I don't think a sweet, flowery German-style wine would benefit from adding oak flavors. If you're a real oak fanatic, you're welcome to try it (it's your wine) but I don't think most folks would recommend it.

Doug

Not to my knowledge... oak completely kills these wines.

I wouldn't recommend oaking Riesling - at least not in small cooperage. I tasted a Riesling once that had been made in the style of a white Burgundy - barrel fermented in new oak. It was simply awful! Some rieslings are aged in oak casks, but those are typically neutral wood that are decades old and impart no oak flavor to the wine.

Sauvignon Blanc is OK when oaked somewhat, as are Pinot Grigio, Pinot Blanc and even Chenin Blanc. In Sauternes, Château d'Yquem is barrel fermented and aged for three years in new French oak, but that's an exception rather than the norm.

Tom S

I agree with most of the comments above, that seriously oaking these wines will kill them (I personally think it kills Chardonnay as well). Having said that, I actually use a small (1/2 oz/6 gal carboy) amount of really well rinsed medium-toast oak beans for a short time (6 weeks out of a 9 month age) in riesling.

The idea was to mimic some sort of neutral-barrel aging. This amount turned out to be just enough to give some complexity and body to the flavor, but not enough to give oaky, vanilla, or butter flavors at all. It was just a little something that really couldn't be described.

Just a thought.

Rob