Cooperage Matters -- European Oak not from France

Today is a special day. We are making two trips as we explored both eastern European oak and oak from the Iberian Peninsula of Spain and Portugal. And, to be clear, particularly on the Iberian Peninsula, the home of the finest Cork Oak trees in the world, we are talking about the oak used to make wine barrels.

We begin in the Zemplen Forest in Hungary. While there are many countries and regions in Europe that produce excellent oak for wine barrels, the Zemplen Forest is probably the most notable. It sits in the Carpathian Mountains roughly between Eperjes and Tokaji. This is northeastern Hungary. The soil here is rocky and volcanic in nature. The weather is cool and dry with winters getting particularly cold. And, we're up at altitude here. We're actually in the Zemplen Mountains, a small part of the larger Carpathian Range. 

Why do we care about all this? The combination of factors produces oak with a dense grain -- particularly tight striations. From the producer's standpoint, this means that much like most French oak, but unlike American oak, the wood must be wedge split working along the grain. In the case of American oak, the cost of production is much lower as the looser striated wood can be saw split. It's a faster process and produces more usable oak per tree limb.

Further, because the climate is so much cooler than most oak growing areas, the grain itself is much finer. This makes it more difficult for oxygen to seep through during the fermentation and aging processes and tends to produce a softer, more elegant and nuanced wine than those aged in, for example, American oak.

While the level of toast on the barrel will influence the aromas and other character coming from the wine, look for the likes of butterscotch, cinnamon, and toffee notes as characteristic of a medium toasted Hungarian wine. And, recall that the heavier the toast, the more the influence of the oak is likely to be.

Iberian oak is much less commonly used in wine barrels, but it is notable for its appearance in many of the Tempranillo-based wines coming out of Rioja that have become quite popular in recent years. It's a different species than we find in most of the rest of Europe -- quercus pyrenaica instead of quercus petrea. The striations in this different species of oak are naturally much looser. When we combine this with the temperate climate of nothern Portugal and southwestern Spain, mostly near the Atlantic seaboard., we get a looser grain; that is, the striations are much more spread out. Said differently, these trees grow quickly. 

As a result, the ingress of oxygen is quite rapid allowing the syringaldehyde and vanillaldehyde to come through during fermentation and aging.

While the effects will vary significantly based on level of toast, there are some very common characteristics of Iberian oaked wines. In particular, look for strong vanilla notes, often combined with gently aged leather, dried tobacco, and sometimes cigar box.