Using oak chips??????

I picked up 4 oz.'s of oak chips today for my wine. This batch is in the last phases of secondary fermentation. I asked the clerk at the supply store about the effects of oaking the wine at this "late" stage of fermentation? He said that the "oaking" effect would be greatly deminished by not having added it at the beginning of primary fermentation. Aren't wines aged in oak barrels after fermentation is finished. Why would there be such a difference. Thanks,

Reply to
james
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I do not agree with your vendor, now is the perfect time to add the oak. Ww actually wait on pirpose; we want most of the sediment out to keep the oak 'cleaner'.

The major reason to ferment with oak is to extract harsher tannins from a barrel; it's usually done with a middle of the road white and those ecess tannins fall out during the clearing process. I'm not at all sure there is much of a comparison here between chips and barrels, so we personally do not ferment on chips. I'm not saying it would be wrong, just that I'm not sure it's useful. Barrels have a lot more to 'give' than chips, that's all. A good barrel has a useful life of 5 to 7 years, most of whatever you are getting is out of those chips is out in that many days, it's just not the same.

The type of wine and toast level of the chips are more important than any of this, to be honest. Reds can stand more oak than whites as a rule; in our experience about 4 times more. I'm leaning toward medium to medium heavy toast for all wine now, I think a heavy toast is just too 'closed off' for my wines. I don't think untoasted makes any sense either. These are just my personal experiences other may have more to add or disagree. Regards, Joe

Reply to
Joe Sallustio

A year ago, I made two high-end premium kit Chardonnay's. Instead of adding the oak chips at primary, I ignored the instructions and stirred it in after I'd stabilized, and left it in the carboys for 9 months. It filtered out no problem and there was a very nice oak taste to it. Compared to adding oak at primary, the oak flavor was more pronounced after bulk ageing, and the Chardonnay seems to be more complex. I now prefer to save the chips and bulk age on the oak chips after stabilization.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Chorniak

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