Peter Christen, Tarrangower Times
There’s a certain silence in the winery right now. The rush of harvest is behind us. Fermentation tanks have calmed, but many exciting steps of the process still need to be completed. Now, it is barrel time.
If you’ve ever wondered why winemakers obsess over oak, you’re not alone. Barrels are one of those things people see in cellar doors and Instagram shots but often do not understand fully. They’re beautiful, yes—but they also quietly shape wine’s flavour, texture, and longevity in ways most drinkers never realise.
So this week, let’s open the cellar door and talk about one of the winemaking heroes: the barrel.
The basics: why use barrels at all?
Barrels aren’t just rustic props. They serve two core purposes:
- Micro-oxygenation – Barrels allow minute amounts of oxygen into the wine over time, which softens tannins and helps develop complexity.
- Flavour and structure – Oak imparts aromas, spices, and texture, depending on the type of wood, how it’s toasted, and how long the wine stays in contact with it.
The choice of oak is as deliberate as choosing grape varieties. Three main types of oak are commonly used in winemaking:
- American Oak is bold and expressive. Think coconut, vanilla, and sweet spice. Often used in richer reds like Zinfandel or Rioja-style wines. It’s a little more ‘in your face.’
- Hungarian Oak is less common but is growing in popularity. Offers a balance between the spice of American and the finesse of French oak. Slightly more cost-effective.
- French Oak is subtle, refined, elegant. That’s the reputation—and for good reason.
Why we use French oak at Panacea Estate
French oak barrels are crafted from trees grown slowly in tight-grain forests like Allier, Limousin, and Nevers. The wood is air-dried for years before being coopered (barrel-crafted), allowing harsh tannins to mellow before touching the wine.
At Panacea, we use light- to medium-toast fine-grain French oak barrels, allowing our fruit’s natural characteristics to shine. You might not immediately taste the oak—but you’ll notice the lifted aromatics, the silkier mouthfeel and those tiny background hints of vanilla, nutmeg, clove and cedar that weave through our reds.
We also use older barrels for white wine fermentation and aging. These don’t impart strong oak flavours but offer structure and texture—giving our wines depth without overwhelming freshness.
New French oak barrels cost around $2,000 for a barrique (225l barrel), so we use them sparingly. After a few years, they lose their flavour-infusing qualities but still help with gentle oxygenation. When their winery life ends, we repurpose older barrels for trials of different wines, brandy, or even furniture.
We taste from each barrel regularly—it’s part of my job I look forward to, not just for the obvious reason (yes, the tasting is fun) but because each evolves differently. Even barrels filled with the exact wine can diverge slightly, like siblings growing up in different homes.
If you are in the vicinity of the winery this weekend, I’ll be doing some barrel tasting and can always appreciate a second opinion, so I encourage you to drop in.
On a personal note, this week, we received our new barrels, and it was one of the most enjoyable times. Appreciating the craftsmanship of the barrels and the amazing aroma that comes from them is only short-lived, as they will be filled with wine and brandy very soon, so it is at least 12 months and up to many years before the full value of these barrels is able to be experienced again when the wine is finished.
I still remember the first time I filled a French oak barrel at Panacea. The wine was young, raw, and restless. A year later, it had softened and deepened, and I learned something. There’s a kind of quiet mentorship that happens between oak and wine. One that, if we’re lucky, the drinker feels—but never quite sees.
This article appeared in Tarrangower Times, 11 April 2025.
