Wood used in wine aging

French oak, American oak, Acacia… Which one is the most common wood used in wine aging? All are different… but nice! Let´s learn more about it.

From ancient times, wood has been used in wine aging to refine the wines, making them more delicate to the palate. To round the wines, winemakers place the wines inside a wooden barrel during several months reducing their edges and eliminating its unpleasant sensations.

But how does this happen? This evolution is due to the air exchange through the pores of the wood. Depending on the different type of wood the exchange can be bigger or faster, as each of them have a different pore size.

What woods are used to build wine barrels?

The wood most used in wine aging is oak, being the most usual French Oak and American Oak. These two varieties of oak add some nice flavours to the wine along with the famous tannin which helps the to offer a more delicate and tasty sensation in the mouth.

The cheapest wood used in wine aging is the American Oak since it is easier to extract staves from its trunk. French Oak barrels are also quite common even if they are remarkably more expensive, but they are much better when it comes to longer aging but also if you are looking for more elegant and tasty aromas, like vanilla and spices.

Would you like to know more about French tonneleries? Have a look at Mercier, one of the nicest in France. If you want to see how they build their casks, you can spend two minutes watching this video. You will really enjoy it Wine Lover. 🙂

But oak is not the only wood used in wine aging, other woods are used in different regions. Chestnut, cherry wood and even Pinewood can be used to build barrels or Foudres to age the wine.

Would you like to know more about different woods used in wine aging? Here we will show you some:

• HUNGARIAN OAK

The Hungarian oak is a great choice for wine aging, very similar to French oak, it adds fruity aromas. It is indeed cheaper, but these woods vary a lot not ensuring the same qualities from year to year.

• SPANISH OAK

Used for red wines aging, Spanish oak provides the wine with coffee and caramel tastes. Spanish oak is a rare wood used in wine aging, since it is not very abundant in the woods of Spain.

• ACACIA

Acacia is used to age white wines; it can be natural or medium toasted and add nice fruity aromas to the wine, very different to what you are used to.

• CHERRYWOOD

A very interesting wood used in wine aging that is being used more and more lately. It adds red fruit aromas along with high quality toasted notes.

• PINEWOOD

This one is a very rare wood, but it has been very used in Canary Islands to age a type of wine they call “vino al tea”.

• CHESTNUT

Chestnut has been used for centuries to age wines but also vinegars, as it is being done in Jerez obtaining awesome results.

These are most of the woods used in wine aging but here could be more, even if you cannot find them mentioned in your preferred wine labels.

Which one is your favourite? Ours is the French Oak… that´s why we really recommend you to have a look at our Abadía de Acón Crianza and Abadía de Acón Reserva. Those two are coming from one of the best wineries in Ribera del Duero, one of the most famous areas in Spain.

Have a look at our shop and find more wines where different woods have been used!