Wine aging in oak barrels

Our wine is aged in French Oak barriques from Tonnellerie Berthomieu, Ermitage line, which is the Haut Couture line of the French oak barriques. But why is wood so important for the wine?

There are two main reasons. The first reason is that wood is a porous material. Unlike steel, therefore, it allows a slow and gradual gas exchange with the outside. It is precisely this passage of oxygen that allows the wine to evolve: proper oxygenation stabilizes the color of the wine and softens its roughness, decreasing the astringency of the tannins. The second reason is the transfer of tertiary aromas. In fact, wood (unlike steel) is not an inert material: the toasting of the wood has a more or less incisive aromatic impact on the wine.

For our wines we use various degrees of toasting of the wood and in some cases we use the same barrel various years to have a more subtle impact – for every wine its own special recipe!