Does the wine taste less oaky if the ends of the barrel, the heads, are made of polyethylene instead of oak? Yes it does, apparently. The ingenuity has no boundaries when it comes to making the wine taste less oaky even though it has been aged in oak barrels. Today, winemakers often say that they want the small aeration that the wine gets while spending time in an oak barrel, but they do not want any oak aromas. One solution could be this new idea that a company called Jabb has developed.
With the either one or both of the flat ends, the “heads”, of a 225-litre oak barrel made of polyethylene instead of oak, the wine will be fruitier and more easy-drinking directly after the oak ageing, says the company. This is confirmed by a château in Pomerol that has tried the oak/polyethylene combination.
Read more: vitisphere
