© by Nigel Lelew • This Month Hi Mark ... good to be here again ... the holiday is long forgotten ... and we're back talking wine ... what could be better! Today we're looking at oak ... something that is so intertwined with wine that it's worth taking a bit of a longer look at it ... why use it ... what does it do ... and even better what does it taste like ... we'll be answering all those questions ... or at least trying to! ... so rather than wine ... we're actually talking trees today Mark! ... I thought it would make a change! ... and then in the tasting we'll be trying an unoaked Chardonnay and a spicy red Shiraz both from Oz ... .and seeing what oak ... or lack of it ... has done for them. • So "To oak or not to oak ... that is the question" So let's be clear what we are talking about. Wine gets into contact with oak in the barrels that it is fermented or matured in ... and it's the flavour that the oak imparts to the wine while it's in the barrel that 'oaks' a wine ... so when the wine comes out of the barrel it tastes different ... which other food would you put in a wooden box and be happy with when it came out tasting different! ... not sure about that! So what does oak do ... well it does a couple of things for a wine ... and it doesn't matter whether it's a red or a white ... First of all it normally darkens the colour of the wine ... especially white wines as they turn a more golden colour. Oak also changes the taste of the wine ... reds tend to get a minty or vanilla taste and more tannins ... whites tend to get a richer, more buttery taste ... sometimes smokey ... But oak also allows the wine to breathe, to give a little contact with air ... to allow the breathe ... .and we've seen here in the studio the benefits of allowing a red wine to stand open for a while before you drink it. there's still a lot that we don't know about what happens in the barrel between wine and oak. Other woods have been tried, but the dense oak seems to be the one that comes up trumps every time. Simply choosing oak, though, is not good enough for most wineries who want to use it. The type and age of the oak is important too ... as we'll see later. French oak, (as if you couldn't guess!), is acknowledged as being the best ... it's slow growing oak ... so that the grain of the wood is tightly packed. In fact the demand for French oak barrels has kept the French coopering industry alive well after the demand was kind of scraping the barrel! [groan! ... I had to get that one in somewhere Mark!]. So the 'tonneliers' or French coopers have a lot thank the wine business for ... because they're still employed and in demand! But France isn't the only place that can produce quality wood needed by the wine industry. North America can also grow oak trees that are dense and have the kind of qualities that winemakers look for. There is a difference between European oak and North American oak. North American oak tends to impart a stronger flavour than the sweeter European oak and so tends to be used to give wines a bigger, more obvious oak effect. None so than the almost infamous episode in Australian winemaking that gave us oaked chardonnay. In fact some Australian wine in the '80's was so oaked as to be almost unrecognisable as being made from grapes at all! But I'm pleased to say, though, that the trend is increasingly towards a more subtle use of oak ... and that's much more to my liking ... .I don't like over-oaked wines personally ... particularly whites ... but that's just me! In fact the pendulum has swung full circle now, and some of the bigger Australian wine producers have started to market unoaked chardonnays, which for me, exhibit all the qualities that make chardonnay the great varietal that it is ... and we'll see one of those in the tasting later. With the drive towards the use of stainless steel in the winemaking process, though, winemakers have taken a look at how they can have the best of both world ... the flavours of the oak and the clean guarantee of stainless steel ... and now it's not unusual for a wine to have oak chips added during the process to give those oak characteristics ... and I don't think there's anything wrong with that ... though the pure traditionalists may disagree with me ... it's kind of like oak tea-bags for wine if you like! there's a whole industry grown up around providing oak for the wine business ... barrel suppliers who can tailor make barrels to a winemakers needs ... a winemaker can now specify exactly how he wants his oak ... from the type of wood, the age of the barrel, even the size of the barrel can have an effect on the taste of the wine ... all to make a kind of 'designer wine' unique to one winemaker ... even though the grapes are grown in vineyards next door to each other ... and that's what gives wine its appeal ... no two wines are ever the same. So next time you open a bottle of wine read the back label and try and find out more about the oak that was used ... it opens up a whole new window on the world of wine ... and what amazes me is that there are people out there who taste a wine and then tell you all about the oak used to make it ... it's hard enough for me to get the grape variety right at times! ... don't go away ... because we're going to be trying a couple of wines in a few minutes to show you the effect of oak ... and they're terrific to drink too! • The Tasting So to the bit where we actually get to taste a couple of wines ... I've got a red and a white ... we'll start with the white ... and after all that talk about oak ... this is an unoaked Chardonnay just to let you know how clean and fresh chardonnay can be before any oak starts to work on it! This is Lindemann's 1999 Cawarra Chardonnay ... it's from Australia ... and it's superb ... shall we? ... Colour Just look at that wine in the glass ... it sparkles doesn't it ... it's a clean yellow colour ... just from the wine ... no colour there from oak ... because remember that this wine hasn't seen any oak. Aroma OK, give the glass a swirl and get the nose in ... isn't that gorgeous ... melons with a hint of citrus ... it's a wonderful aroma ... but wait until you taste it ... Taste So let's take a glug ... ..get the melon and tropical fruit flavours ... and then there's a crisp edge to the wine ... and the length ... it just goes on and on ... that's simply brilliant..Lindemanns 1999 Cawarra Chardonnay ... you can get it at most places for £4.49 ... but a 'little' bird tells me that Waitrose have taken a £1 off the price until 1st October ... so you can enjoy this wine for just £3.49 ... go and get a whole crate! OK ... now let's take a look at the red ... .and this one has seen some oak ... for me the combination of oak, Australia and Shiraz tells me that I will love this one! ... Lindemanns 1999 Bin 50 Shiraz ... £4.99 so it won't break the bank and again you can get it in most supermarkets and off-licences ... so ... Colour Look at that deep plum kind of colour ... and it's dense to so you can't see through it ... and a purpley tinge at the rim which tells you it's young ... Aroma OK swirl the glass to release the aroma and get the old nose in ... it's almost like a mulled wine ... fruit and spice ... with a hint of mint on the end ... and that comes from the oak ... some of this wine has been matured in a mix of French and American oak ... and that's what you're getting ... Taste OK ... let's take a glug ... warm fruit ... blueberries maybe ... but the best of all is the rich spice that comes from the Shiraz grape ... and thats why I just love it ... pepper spice ... and a smooth tannin in there as well ... and all the time there's some minty oak in there as well ... isn't that brilliant ... Lindemanns 1999 Bin 50 Shiraz ... a great Shiraz from Australia ... a grape that they do so well ... and at £4.99 from almost anywhere ... I give you heaven in a glass! • Next Month Well next month when I come in the results of the International Wine Challenge will be published ... so I'll be reporting on one of the biggest wine tastings in the world ... held every year here in London ... so we do something right! ... and we'll be tasting some of the winners ... and you won't need to mortgage the house to afford them either! ... so I'll look forward to that. Sept. 10, 2000
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