uncorked
Had a skinful? The origin of this term - usually applied to someone who's had one too many - seems to be Madeira, where, in days of yore, fermented grape juice was carried up and down the island's steep volcanic hills in animal skins. Wine has traditionally been stored in all kinds of jars and urns but today we talk of stainless steel and, crucially, oak.
Where and how the relationship between wine and oak began is hard to define but it probably evolved on voyages by the great seafaring nations. These days, it is difficult to imagine the wine industry without its wooden companion. Porous and permeable, oak barrels allow a gradual oxidation that helps a wine settle and mature before bottling.
Aromatic white grapes such as sauvignon blanc and riesling, and some light-bodied reds such as beaujolais, are kept away from oak. Big reds, though, positively revel in it. Chardonnay - a grape with less than distinctive flavours and aromas (except when it is grown in Burgundy) - also seems to benefit from contact with it.
Oaking is a controversial topic. 'It is very easy these days to mislead people through oaky wines because people have started to think oak is equal to quality,' says Prince Robert of Luxembourg, the owner of Chateau Haut-Brion. 'What we would like is for the terroir to shine through. We don't use 100 per cent new oak even for our first wines.'
This emphasis on terroir is echoed in Burgundy at Domaine de Montille. 'When you have the chance to express different characteristics, vineyard by vineyard, you want to eliminate everything that could hide or disturb this expression,' says Etienne de Montille. His Chateau de Puligny Meursault Poruzots naturally gives a green almond and smoke-toast (think smoked haddock on buttered toast) bouquet that renders oaking redundant. Chablis is another excellent case in point, with its often flinty, burned-match nose and hints of vanilla - it needs no touch of oak.
Wine should never smell strongly of oak. Good-quality oak (usually French) that has been properly toasted simply melds with the wine rather than overpowering it. Correct toasting reduces fresh oak aromas and develops alluring vanilla and caramel aromas. Oak aroma decreases with repeated barrel use, hence the cautious approach to new oak.
On the other hand, take a top New World wine such as Hartenberg chardonnay from Stellenbosch in South Africa. The 2004 has a pretty nose of lemon-citrus and some chalky lime yet is fermented in 50 per cent new oak. 'The intense fruit helps to soak up the oak,' says winemaker Carl Schultz. The better the fruit, the more oak you can use.
Crucially, it seems new oak, correctly prepared, helps wines - which in times gone by might have needed 10 years to be approachable - to be consumed young. Just what the market is asking for.
