After wine finishes fermentation it is racked several times to help clear the wine. The wine is a bit young at this point (sometimes called “green”) and depending on the quality of the wine it can require aging for an extended period. This would be the point at which you would normally bottle your wine and it would need to then age in the bottle. Traditionally in winemaking this aging is done in oak barrels which slowly improves the developing wine over time.
Aging wine in a wood barrel essentially does two things: it imparts the character of the oak and starts a very slow concentration of the wine. Wine in the barrel goes through many complex chemical changes. Oak barrel aging imparts a greater complexity to the wine while softening any harsh tannins present at the end of fermentation. Many subtle flavors are brought out during aging. Different types of oak (French, Hungarian and American being the most widely used) give varying levels of flavor to the wine.
Our oak barrel aging program is very popular and the barrels are never empty. Most of our customers know the benefits of oak barrel aging and take advantage of it as often as possible.
We start our barrel runs every 3 months, where we age multiple batches of selected wines in our large (40 gallon) oak barrels. After 6 months, those wines are ready to be bottled and taken home by you. No further aging will be required before drinking your wine.
Our barrel runs sell out very quickly. Ask us about our barrel aging program or you can sign up for email notifications of our upcoming runs.
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