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Oak in Winemaking Symposium

Location: Napa Valley Ballroom

This symposium is designed to explore the impacts of using oak barrels on the quality and composition of wine. The symposium is designed to address the fundamental aspects of coopering, oak chemistry, and barrel aging of wine. Specifically, this symposium will focus on how barrels are made, which types of wood are selected and how new species or genera are being investigated to understand their unique properties, as well as a review of barrel chemistry and its effects on wine composition. The event will include a tour of cooperages due to the close proximity of multiple cooperages in the Napa Valley. A tasting will also be provided highlighting the effects of using oak barrels on red wine composition during primary fermentation and aging.

International Speaker Sponsor:
Tonnellerie Radoux USA, Inc.

Symposium Chair:
Tom Collins, Washington State University, Tri-Cities

Program:

Program is subject to change.
7:15 am – 9:00 am Cooperage Tours:
9:30 am – 9:45 am Opening Remarks
Tom Collins, Washington State University, Tri-Cities
9:45 am – 10:30 am Oak Quality Considerations and Options for American Oak Barrels
Anthony Morris, Canton Cooperage, Kentucky
10:30 am – 10:45 am Break
10:45 am – 11:30 am Impact of Variability in the Toasting Process on Composition of Oak Barrels
Tom Collins, Washington State University, Tri-Cities
11: 30 am – 12:15 pm Barrel Chemistry and Its Effect on Wine and Spirit Composition: Lignin, Cellulose, and Sugars
Jarrad Gollihue, University of Kentucky, Lexington
12:15 pm – 1:30 pm Lunch (on own)
1:30 pm – 2:15 pm How Oak Barrels Can Influence the Taste of Wine: Current Knowledge and Recent Acquisitions
Delphine Winstel, Université de Bordeaux, France
2:15 pm – 3:15 pm Tank or Barrel? The Impact of Fermentation and Aging Red Wine in Stainless Steel Tanks and Oak Barrels
(Tasting of experimental red wines fermented and aged in various combinations of oak barrels and stainless vessels.)
Scott Frost, Washington State University, Tri-Cities
3:15 pm – 3:30 pm Break
3:30 pm – 4:15 pm Recent Advances in Barrel and Oxygen
Ignacio Nevares, Universidad de Valladolid, Spain
4:15 pm – 4:45 pm Q&A and Closing Remarks
Tom Collins, Washington State University, Tri-Cities