Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The procedure is straightforward. You put 45 ounces of
brandy in a secondary fermenter, rack wine into the fermenter
until you have a gallon, and then top it with an airlock. If you
are making a sweet wine you'll need to rack it in another
week or so, and then treat it like any other wine. If your
starting wine was already completely fermented, you can wait
a month before racking and then treat it like any other wine.
Oak Aging
Oak aging is traditional in wines, especially red wines.
There's no question that the traditional aging of wines in oak
barrels alters the flavor through the extraction of a variety of
compounds from the oak. However, oak barrels are very
expensive and require considerable care. Studies show that
using a neutral container (such as glass) and adding toasted
oak chips will impart the same compounds as aging in a
barrel.
55
Oak chips are available from both American and French oak,
and in a variety of toasting levels. French oak imparts more
tannin and spice notes, whereas American oak imparts more
vanilla and sweet notes. Toasting oak cubes of either sort
makes some of the compounds such as vanillin more
available but also imparts a more charred character to the
wine, especially at the highest levels of toasting.
