Wine aging in wooden barrels

Barrel aging – a complex and valuable step on the path to unique wines. At Dreissigacker, barrel aging allows us to give our wines greater depth and structure. Several factors influence the wine's maturation in the barrel. Wood is a natural product and therefore not completely impervious to external influences. This leads to two processes. Firstly, there is a so-called air intake, or micro-oxidation. Small amounts of oxygen enter the wine through the wood. In addition, minute quantities of the barrel's contents continuously evaporate through the wood.

In addition to air intake and evaporation, the wood itself also influences the wine's taste. Over time, the wood imparts a typical fine woody taste and roasted aromas to the wine. How intensely the woody and roasted notes develop in the wine depends on how long the wine remains in the barrel, how heavily the barrel was toasted, the size of the barrel, and whether it is a first or subsequent filling.

The longer the wine is allowed to mature in the wooden barrel, the more woody and roasted aromas combine with the wine. These develop because the barrels are burned from the inside for bending – at the winemaker's request, the charring or toasting can be intensified. This increases the intensity of the roasted aromas in the wine. The charring process is called "toasting." The flamed interior then transfers a fine roasted aroma to the wine.

Furthermore, the size of the barrel influences the intensity of the aromas. The larger the barrel, the less wine, proportionally, comes into contact with the wood surface. Therefore, the exchange of aromas takes longer or is milder compared to wine aging in a smaller wooden barrel. When a wooden barrel is filled with wine for the first time, the exchange between wood and wine is most intense. In a second or third filling, this is significantly milder.

Through barrel aging in combination with aging in stainless steel tanks, our Dreissigacker wines achieve multifacetedness, complexity, and individuality. Especially with Riesling from the barrel, the sometimes angular and edgy wine is softened, and the woody and roasted aroma provides a worthy counterpoint.

In the Dreissigacker Tonneau Cellar, we age our Burgundy wines: Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Chardonnay. The white wine from wooden barrels impresses with its special structure. For aging in wooden barrels, we use 500-liter tonneau barrels with toasted staves – these are the long pieces of wood that make up a barrel. The aging of white wine in wooden barrels, in this case in tonneau barrels, has a long tradition, as in the past almost all wines were aged in wooden barrels. We also notice that the wood benefits the wines, and therefore we also age white wine in wooden barrels. Especially with more complex white wines, the woody and toasted aromas effectively enliven the taste of the wine. Aging wine in wooden barrels offers an additional opportunity to produce unique and innovative white wines. At Dreissigacker, we precisely tailor the intensity of wood and toasted aromas that each wine needs and how much is the maximum permissible. This approach is based on our experience, patience, and a feel for new things.

The Barrique Cellar - where our red wines from wooden barrels are stored. Barrique barrels are relatively small oak barrels, each holding 228 liters. We use barrique barrels for the aging of our red wines, Pinot Noir and Sankt Laurent. Due to the small container, the aging of red wine in barrique barrels has a great influence on the wine. This is because it can interact particularly well with the wooden barrel. Our red wines are allowed to rest here for at least two, and in some cases even three or four years, depending on how the wood and roast aromas develop in the red wine. Pinot Noir, in particular, needs a lot of time to mature. We give it this time, because it pays off in terms of taste.

If you compare the stainless steel cellar with, for example, the barrique cellar, the typical wine cellar flair is missing at first glance. But maturation in a stainless steel tank allows the winemaker to work with particular attention to detail and precision. Both wine maturation in wooden barrels and in stainless steel tanks shine with special characteristics. The environment in which the wine is allowed to mature depends on which characteristics are to be particularly emphasized. In the stainless steel tank, the wine matures without external influences and thus develops its own aroma. The taste characteristics of the wine can only arise from the wine and thus from the grapes themselves. The stainless steel tank ensures a very precise maturation. In the stainless steel tank, the wines develop a brilliant aroma during maturation. Especially when it comes to maintaining freshness in the wines during warm years, maturation in a stainless steel tank is suitable. In addition, the temperature of the tanks can be precisely adjusted, which allows even more precision in winemaking. The winemaker thus always maintains control during maturation and can completely focus on the wine. At Dreissigacker, we predominantly work with smaller tanks because we want to develop very small batches and bring out individual subtle nuances.