How can you tell if a wine has been aged in oak? You hear things like tastes of vanilla, toast, smells of tobacco, cedar box, coconut, dill, charred wood, resinous.
Well, this is easier than you think! Grab a handful of cheerios and a few marshmallows.
To detect oak in white wine, take the cheerios and crush them up in your hand. Smell your hand. It smells like toast and oats and a little musky. This smell is very similar to what an oaked white wine will smell like.
To detect oak in red wine, take a large marshmallow and toast it. Smell the toasted marshmallow. The sweet smokiness smells like oak used in ageing red wine.
Not all wines are “oaked” to the same degree and some are not oaked at all (aka “unoaked”). Factors that impact the “oaky” flavors in a wine include:
- Age of the barrels – the newer the barrel, the more oaky a wine will taste
- The degree to which the barrels have been toasted – the more the barrels have been toasted (charred on the inside), the more they will impart an oaky flavor. Vineyards work with different coopers based on their desired char profile.
- How long does the wine ferment in the oak barrels? The longer the time, the more oak flavor will be infused into the wine.
- Where does the oak come from? America or France or elsewhere? Here’s a useful article on French vs. American oak from Dr. Vinny and the Wine Specator, click here.
Image “Wine Cellar” by Stoonn courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
