Beyond Oak - Exploring the Many Ways to Raise a Wine
When it comes to making wine, there are countless decisions along the way - from how the vines are farmed to what happens once the grapes arrive in the cellar. And every one of those choices leaves its mark on the wine in your glass. One of the biggest decisions comes after harvest. What kind of vessel should the wine ferment and age in?
For generations, the answer has often been straightforward. Ferment in stainless steel, then move the wine into oak barrels for maturation. But these days, more and more Spanish winemakers are thinking outside the barrel.
The Oak Question
Oak barrels can be wonderful tools. Newer barrels can contribute flavors and aromas such as vanilla, baking spice, toast, cedar, and smoke, while also adding tannin and texture. Older, neutral barrels, on the other hand, contribute much less flavor and are primarily used for the slow maturation of the wine and its gradual exposure to oxygen. Given enough time, the more obvious oak flavors can recede, allowing the wine to become increasingly integrated, complex, and elegant.
But what if you want the wine to evolve without tasting like oak in the first place? That’s where alternative vessels come in.
Looking Back to Move Forward
A growing number of Spanish winemakers are looking to traditional winemaking practices for inspiration, using concrete, clay amphorae, and glass demijohns to help shape the wine while allowing the character of the grape and vineyard to take center stage.
These aren't exactly new ideas. Long before stainless steel and modern oak programs became the norm, winemakers throughout the Mediterranean and Europe were fermenting and aging wines in clay, glass, stone, and concrete vessels. In many ways, today's return to these materials is less about reinventing the wheel and more about rediscovering some old tricks.
A Natural Fit for Natural Wine
Alternative vessels have become especially popular among natural and low-intervention winemakers. They can allow fermentation and maturation to proceed with relatively little manipulation, often making them well suited to spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts. They can also provide varying degrees of oxygen exposure, much like an older, neutral oak barrel, without introducing oak-derived flavors.
This can be particularly interesting with skin-contact, or orange, wines, where extended contact with the grape skins already brings plenty of color, phenolics, tannin, texture, and aromatic complexity. Using concrete, clay, or glass allows those characteristics to develop without adding another layer of oak flavor.
So, What Does Each Vessel Bring to the Party?
Concrete vats tend to encourage a rounded, integrated texture while allowing the fruit, freshness, and mineral character of the wine to shine. They offer some oxygen exchange without imparting flavor.
Glass demijohns are about preservation. They are essentially flavor-neutral, helping retain freshness, primary fruit, and delicate aromatics.
Clay amphorae can bring something a little different. They allow gentle oxygen exposure while encouraging the wine's natural texture, earthy character, and aromatics to develop.
And then there is neutral oak, which remains a valuable tool when the goal is slow maturation and gradual oxygen exchange without significant oak flavor.
Why Choose Just One?
Increasingly, winemakers aren't choosing one vessel over another. They're using several. A wine might ferment in concrete, spend time in amphora, mature in glass, or be finished in neutral oak. By combining vessels, winemakers can fine-tune the wine's texture, oxygen exposure, freshness, and evolution. Think of it less as choosing a container and more as choosing the environment in which the wine will grow.
And perhaps that's the most interesting part of this return to ancient techniques. The goal isn't necessarily to make wine taste different. It's often to let it taste more like itself, more expressive of its grape, its vineyard, and the place where it was grown.
