Articles

There is a reason so many of the pros use oak barrels. Learn about the benefits of a barrel, as well as how to choose the right barrel for you, prepare it for wine, and get the most return on your investment.

If you don’t have a barrel to put your wine in, then put a barrel alternative in your wine. Two experts share advice for getting the most from chips, cubes, spirals, and other alternatives.

A home winemaker and woodworker got the idea that mahogany may lend itself nicely to wine in place of oak. This simple idea led him on a years-long string of experiments. Now, he’s ready to share the results, which may surprise you.

Wine barrels are constantly changing. Each time one is filled it will lose some characteristics and, eventually after enough uses, it will go neutral. How you use a barrel should change over time also. 

Adding oak to a wine can add an amazing depth of character or it can detract from the fruit. Learn some keys to managing the oak in your wine.

Barrels offer a lot more benefits to wine than just oak taste and tannins, but full-size barrels are often out of reach for the home winemaker. Smaller barrels that are more home winemaker-friendly pose some nuances when it comes to wood-to-wine ratio, but they offer the same benefits when you know how to use them.

If a barrel isn’t in your immediate winemaking plans — or if your barrel has been filled so many times it has become neutral in oak character — there are many other options on the market in the forms of oak alternatives. Get to know the options to see which may be best for your cellar.

Owning your own oak barrel can yield great rewards when handled properly. We asked the advice of two professionals that know what it takes to care for a new barrel and keep them in tip-top shape.

Q I am a novice home winemaker and have been contemplating making the move from carboy and bottle-aging to barrel-aging some of my reds. It is my understanding that a new barrel

Aging your wine in an oak barrel can do wonders for your wine. It can also ruin it. Before you dive in head first, learn all there is to know about aging in oak. Plus: Using oak alternatives.

Tips for beginners on how to prepare their first barrel.

Is aging wine in a barrel that once held spirits totally off limits? One hobby winemaker made some experimental wines to test it out.

An amateur barrel maker shares his advice to build your own wine barrel at home.

In the final installment of our year-long series, the wines are bulk aged, oaked, and bottled.

Sometimes, a wine you believed would be balanced during fermentation comes up a little short after fermentation is complete. Learn what you can do to restore it to an order of balance with these post-fermentation adjustments.

A song to the oak, the brave old oak, Who hath ruled in the greenwood long; Here’s health and renown to his broad green crown, And his fifty arms so strong. There’s

One of the most enduring — and evocative — images in the winemaking world is that of the barrel room. Virtually every commercial vintner has one, and it’s among the “must sees”

Winemaker John Fletcher of Hillside Estate Winery in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada offers his thoughts on adding oak to your wine: Oaking Hillside Wines Many of the Hillside Estate