WTN: Acacia and cherry

Klinec Malvazia 2007 - Slovenia, Primorje, Goriška Brda, Medana; label
13,5% abv. Aged in acacia barrels for one year. Orange colour; a skin contact white. Smells rather woody and peppery and somehow sharp, but it is still a fascinating aroma, quite unlike anything else I have had. There is also a wonderful, grapey aroma slightly reminiscent of Muscat except much more subtle and more savoury. Dry, powerful, masculine, moderately tannic by orange wine standards. Drying finish. I find this fascinating and don't find the acacia ageing annoying - but I am also aware that if all wines were aged in acacia, I would not be so forgiving of this wood either!


Klinec Jakot 2007 - Slovenia, Primorje, Goriška Brda, Medana; label
13,5% abv. An orange wine aged one year in acacia. Though different enough from the Malvazija in its fruit aromas - this one being less grapey in its aromas but more floral - this is still marked by a woody note presumably from ageing in acacia. Like the Malvazija, this is of moderate tannin as far as orange wines go, but seems to have higher acidity, so it seems to me more austere. But this is still a lovely drink. Having now had two acacia-aged wines side by side, I do wonder if my interest would survive if more were aged in it instead of oak since I prefer grape aromas to wood aromas.


Klinec Quela 2006 - Slovenia, Primorje, Goriška Brda, Medana; label
60% Merlot, 30% Cab Sauv, 10% Cab Franc. A Bordeaux-blend that doesn't smell at all of oak (how nice for a change!) - because it is aged instead for one year in cherry barrels. This has wonderfully vivid and pure aromas of bright red fruit and slight earthiness and leafiness. I am tempted to say it has concentrated cherry aromas, but that would be facetious. Though 13,5% abv, there is no excess ripeness or sweetness of fruit; instead this has wonderful precision, wonderful grip and wonderful freshness. I have no idea how new the cherry wood is, but if cherry barrels let the grapes shine with such purity and without any obviously woody aromas, perhaps the Bordelais should start using such barrels, too!

Interesting. I've heard of acacia barrels, but not so much cherry. From what I have seen of cherry trees, they are usually not very big - wonder how you make barrel staves out of one? I'm guessing these wines are aged in old barrels.

Hi Otto,
Acacia wood if not treated with paraffin or a wax treatment could possible give a yellowish tint to the wine. (Handling this wood (raw) without gloves could possible stain your hands with a yellowish tint). Cherry wood has a very fruity and “sweet” smell to it so if you told me that a wine stored in a cherry barrel had a “concentrated cherry aroma” it wouldn’t surprise me. Most definitely IMHO a cherry barrel (depending upon whether or not it is toasted and to what degree) will most likely enhance “fruitiness and sweetness (to a degree)”. In Balsamic Vinegar production the most distinctive barrel in a “battery” (a series of progressively smaller wooden cask made from various different woods used to age the vinegar sometimes for many years) is most likely the cherry cask.

Salute

Victor, thanks for that info! Do you mind if I quote you elsewhere (like on my blog and another wine site where some discussion of these woods ensued)? If it's ok, how shall I attribute it to you? Just by quoting you as "Victorwine"?

If you really want to get geeky about this you might dig up the paper abstracted here: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf803161r
It looks like there are a few places, mostly in eastern europe, who will make barrels out of non-oak woods, intended mostly for brandy or vinegar.
Here is an example from Romania: http://budonka.eu/index.php?option=com_ ... =0&lang=en