Adventures in Wine's Jargon Jungle: Oak

For adventurous people, wine offers a universe of new and exciting experiences. But it also has a shameful habit of turning earnest folks off for good. There can be a great deal of unnecessary jargon thrown about, and a whiff of snobbery that, while certainly less pungent than in the past, hangs around some wine shops, restaurants, even humans. These barriers continue to keep people away from wine, and in some cases drive them into the evil arms of light beer. This is, of course, of grave concern to Shoestring's wine department.

But it's important to avoid confusing jargon with knowledge. If you want to drink great wine and avoid spending ridiculous sums of money, you need to brush up a bit. The more you can identify and remember certain common characteristics of wines you like, the more you'll be able to stride into the wine shop, dig your hand into the bargain bin, and pick out a gem. Getting smart on wine-speak does not turn you into a snob, it just makes you a money-saver.

Let's look at one commonly misunderstood piece of wine-speak: oak. One of the principal sources of confusion, and the occasional snigger, is the bevy of terminology wine geeks use to describe the liquid in their glass: oaky, woody, cigar box, old books, leather, coffee, tobacco. Are we talking about a wine or Bill Cosby's living room?

In this instance, the anoraks are onto something. The smells and flavors of comic geniuses are indeed present in many fine wines. But what's the source of the baffling array of adjectives? A great number of the tasting notes you’ll hear people prattling on about originate from the magical influence of oak barrels. They're very expensive, and they’re difficult to store, but they can play a major role in producing heavenly wines. So why do winemakers use them?

According to Mike Vihuela, winemaker and owner at Vihuela Winery in Paso Robles, California, oak is used in the winery for three primary reasons: to age the wine; to mitigate flaws in the wine; and to increase the wine’s complexity.

For the aging part, oak barrels are useful firstly from a storage point of view, and as a vessel to allow the wine to settle down. Winemakers will age a wine in oak barrels for anything from a few months to more than two years. This aging process also has a handy way of improving the aroma and taste of the wine. As Vihuela says, "Wines have all sorts of flavors and nuances that can be elevated and integrated by the use of oak."

As for mitigating flaws, Jerry Murray, owner and winemaker at Patton Valley Vineyards, a boutique producer of estate-grown pinot noir in Oregon, agrees that oak does a handy job at covering up "negative things like off aromas and flavors" in a wine. What does he mean by negative things? Think of a time you tasted a wine that offered a strange and overpowering aroma, perhaps antiseptic or a veggie garden. After all, the grape is a fruit. And a good wine should showcase that fact with fruit on the nose and palate. So the subtle aromas and flavors imparted by oak consign nastier ones to the wine equivalent of the cutting room floor, and complement the good ones like a solid score.

For many of the top red wines we enjoy, oak imparts part of the all-important structure that allows complexity to showcase itself. "Tannins are a subclass of phenols that are found in the skin, seeds, and stems of grapes," says Murray, "They are also found in oak. It is the tannins that provide much of the texture of a wine. They also provide a wine with its structure. Think of the structure of a wine as the frame that the other elements of a wine are pulled over."

If you visit the top chateaus in Bordeaux, or in the U.S., regions like Sonoma or the Napa Valley, you’ll find oak barrels everywhere. Their use is prevalent in the creation of virtually all of the world's great red wines. For Eric Gordon, a winemaker with Punk Dog Wines in California, use of oak barrels is a must for structured and long-living fine wines. "Aging wine in oak," he says, "produces a soft round texture in the mouth feel of the wine. Think of it as the difference of having sand in your mouth versus marbles: a young red wine will have a coarse texture to it, but after aging in oak for a couple of years, it creates a soft and round texture."

Now for the challenging part: How can the adventurous wine enthusiast perceive the complexity-advancing influence of oak in the glass? In many wines, it's unmistakable. But you must employ the right tasting tools: stick your nose right into the glass and inhale as deeply as you can. Then, take a sip and swish it all around your mouth. Make as much noise as you like. If your wine has been aged in oak barrels (particularly new oak barrels, but that’s another topic to explore) you will at least notice something savory and maybe a little sweet in addition to the fruit. Let's say the aromas of your wine remind you of black currants. You might also perceive something sweeter like chocolate or vanilla. Or you may smell wood. In a more mature wine, these scents will evolve into things like old books or leather. Remember, don't pay too much attention to the tasting notes offered by marketing copy or the guy in the store. Use them as a guide to help you understand the terminology. But a wine's aromas or flavors are those that matter to you. You can't be right or wrong.

So what's the next step? The best way to learn more about oak's influence on wine — not to mention further develop your palate and get a better understanding of what it likes — is to go to a good local wine store that has knowledgeable staff, and ask for two bottles of red wine — preferably two that use the same grape variety, and even more so if they're from the same region. Tell them you want one bottle that has had no contact with oak, and another that has been aged in new oak barrels. Next steps: cook something good, invite some friends over, taste the difference, and share all the different characteristics you notice.

BEST VALUE BOTTLES OF THE MONTH

Clos de Los Siete, Argentia, 2007 ($19)
The most influential palate in the world — that belonging to wine legend/tyrant Robert Parker — thinks this wine is the business. But let’s not hold that against it. This is a grand cru wine on a plonk budget. Notice balance and maturity that belie the wine’s youth. This is a full-bodied, soft wine that will appeal to beginners as much as geeks. A good bottle to bring to a dinner party. (Widely available, including from Wine.com.)

Sierra Cantabria Crianza, Rioja, Spain, 2004 ($19)
Oak aging plays a big role in the better wines of Rioja, Spain’s most famous red wine region. You'll find lots of great examples of it in your local wine store. The Sierra Cantabria Crianza is another popular wine for this month’s recommendations, so you should have no trouble finding the wine and impressing friends with "ooh, hints of vanilla on this one — probably the 14 months or so it spent in oak barrels. It's amazing the extent to which oak can add character to a wine..." (Widely available, including from Wine.com.)