The Auswine Forum

Hi All

I want to conduct a red wine tasting for our small tasting club to highlight the effect of oak on a wine.
Some of the things I was considering was to:-

- Compare French and American oak
- Show the effect of oak on wine as opposed to unoaked
- Oak chips Vs oak barrels

Any suggestions would be appreciated as to other ideas, but I would also appreicate if people could advise of wines that would show these characters ie: anyone know of a producer that makes the same wine oaked and unoaked.

Thanks in advance for any help rendered.

Michael

Mike, there's no such thing as a "overoaked" wine, only under fruited or under-wined. When there's enough of fruits & tannins it'll soaked up all the new timber. A very good example is the Arakoon Doyen 2000/01 (200% Oaked, spent 12 mths in a new barrel b4 transfered to another new barrel for another 12 mths)

Grant Burge Meschach tends to be overoaked on a lesser vintage n also W.Blass lower end wines(withstanding the Grey Label onwards) Also Woodstock earlier vintages, now sure now since I stop buying.


Cheers,

Michael wrote:Hi All

- Compare French and American oak

Michael

Going to be hard to find, but I understand Mclaren Vale wine maker and consultant Wayne Thomas has just released a Shiraz, I think 2001, in two parts, one from French and one from American oak, identical wine in all other ways.

Another option, 2001 Kilikanoon the Oracle and The Covenant, very similar wines but one in Am oak and one in French oak.

there's no such thing as a "overoaked" wine, only under fruited or under-wined. When there's enough of fruits & tannins it'll soaked up all the new timber

Martin

That's to your palate of course - more elegant wines than you prefer can easily be over-oaked eg. cool climate Cabernets and Bordeaux blends, Northern Rhone, Pinot and so on.


regards
Chris

- Compare French and American oak
Penfolds RWT vs Grange (pricey) or Gartelman Wilhelm Shiraz v Diedrich.

- Show the effect of oak on wine as opposed to unoaked
St Henri vs Kalimna Bin 28 (or 389 or 128)

- Oak chips Vs oak barrels
Cheap Oaked Riverina chardonnay vs Coldstream Hills or similar

Only problem with using St Henri as a flagbearer of the 'unoaked' style is that, at least for the 97, 98 and 99 st henri releases, an unspecified (a non-dominent percentage) amount of new oak has been used, and it does show. The 98 and 99 in particular show musings of vanillin oak -- which for this exercise, would cloud the issue.

There is some pretty good unoaked grenache coming out of spain .. scott wasley of The Spanish Acquisition could be able to point you in the right direction.

Thanks People, some good recommendations here so far - please keep them coming.

Ultimately I would like the identical wine that has been oaked and unoaked, thereby reducing all other factoral elements from the equation.
I will look into the Wayne Thomas.

TIA

Michael,

I once saw a 3 pack of same vintage Cote Roties from Guigal all made with different French oak, Alliers, Troncais & Nevers. I thought that would be a fascinating tasting, at the time, but I never got around to doing it.

Good Luck,
Kenny

Michael wrote:Thanks People, some good recommendations here so far - please keep them coming.

Ultimately I would like the identical wine that has been oaked and unoaked, thereby reducing all other factoral elements from the equation.
I will look into the Wayne Thomas.

TIA

I always remember Mitchelton Marsanne (oak) vs Tahbilk Marsanne (not oak) being a cheap comparison. I presume they're still fighting out of different corners.

Ian

Dalrymple wines in the Tamar valley produce both an oaked and unoaked chardonnay both of which are quite nice and provide a good illustration of the differences between the two styles.

I forgot to log in, i am responsible for the previous post.

What a good idea !!

Is anybody interested in organising a similar tasting here in Adelaide ?

Torbreck Juveniles is an unoaked blend of GMS and only costs around $30. Nothing but juicy sweet fruit and some earthy spiceness. Intresting stuff.