The ageing process is a key step in the wine production.
The ageing of the wine has a crucial impact on the future taste of wine. It can take place in vats or barrels.
Each of the containers has advantages :
- the ageing in inox vat or concrete tank allows to keep fresh aromas
- the ageing in oak barrels gives extra tannins to the wine and develop new aromas (woody, toasted, almond, vanilla or clove). Compared to the vats, the micropores of the wood allow an exchange with the wine and let it breath.
The choice option of the aging of the wine will depend on the style of wine looking for. The inox vats and the oak barrels are very complementary in our range of wines:
- the Equilibre range are aged in vats for keeping its freshness and fruitness
- the range Equinoxe / Paradoxe / Etonnant/ Arlequin are aged in oak barrels for giving more complexity, more elegance and a great ageing potential.
What’s new today in our choice of ageing ? We have chose a conical trunk vat ! Made of the best oak from the French forests, it is a uncommon oak barrel with a capacity of 30 hectolitres.
This vat is close to a oak barrel except the shape, the capacity, the usefulness. It can be used both for ageing/storage of wines and for fermentation. The anti-oxidant effect of tannin, combined with the micro-oxygenation of wood, produces limpid musts and wines with a stable and concentrated color.
Today, the Zinfandel 2017 are in it and ages slowly. In a few months’ time, we will enjoy a first glass … Surely great !
See you soon,
Les Arjollains
Tapered tank in oak
