Is Barrel Aging Still the Gold Standard for Top Wines?
Tasting barrel after barrel of wine in the cellars of the Côte de Nuits in the late 2000s catalysed my understanding of wine. How could two barrels of Pinot Noir—sitting side by side, vinified the same way—taste so different? Were the differences due to the vineyards’ terroir or to the impact of the barrels themselves? These are questions I have never stopped asking. My domaine, Fanciulle Vini, was born to explore the first question, and every year in the cellar, I continue to investigate the second.
These days, barrel aging is unfashionable, widely replaced in Tuscan cellars by cement or terracotta. Wineries have been fleeing barrels, and I understand why. Barrel aging is one of the most challenging aspects of winemaking. First, good barrels are hard to find. The top coopers are French, so understandably, their best barrels go to French wineries. In the past, producers could choose the forest from which the wood for their barrels was sourced. But studies have shown that grain depends more on the individual tree than on the forest, and most coopers have stopped offering this option. We winemakers have no choice but to trust them—a big leap for a €1000 item.
Barrels demand constant care. Every week, I taste the wine in each one. I add or remove wine as temperatures shift, and when I need to analyse for malic acid, say, or volatile acidity, I must take a sample from every single barrel. I love wood’s natural origin and feel, but damp wood is also a breeding ground for bacteria. Even when they’re empty, barrels need monthly sulphur treatments.
With these difficulties, it’s no surprise that many producers welcomed alternatives. Cement keeps wines from oxidation and bacteria. Terracotta carries the appeal of tradition, evoking olive oil jars and an air of authenticity. But what’s been lost in this shift?
I love the color and feel of terracotta, but it is even more porous than wood. Judging by the excess of oxidized Tuscan reds I taste these days, I wonder whether producers really understand what they are sacrificing in terms of freshness and precision. Cement, in contrast, eliminates the risk of oxidation or microbiological contamination, but excludes the controlled evolution that wood provides, resulting in wines that are “clean” but lack the depth and finesse of truly great barrel-aged ones.
Winemakers are uncomfortable with the idea that any of a wine’s flavors come from wood—it feels impure. And yet, in the greatest wines, it is exactly that evanescent note of freshness and delicate spice which fills out a wine’s almost ungraspable spectrum of aromas and flavors.
So how should we winemakers choose? My batches are so small that most aging containers won’t work. When I discovered 250lt ceramic containers made in northern Italy, I was thrilled. They allow me to age micro-batches with very little oxygen exchange, preserving purity and protecting my wines from bacteria. This, in turn, allows me to focus time, money and other resources on a few barrels holding my most delicate and promising wines. Ceramic has become an invaluable part of my cellar, but it will never replace barrels for the most complex cuvées.
At Fanciulle, we don’t age in barrels because it’s easy, we do so because it’s essential. We experiment with a variety of coopers. We constantly taste, analyze and adjust throughout the cellar aging process. Finally, we accept the difficulties, risks and cost because the results speak for themselves.
Taste our barrel- and ceramic- aged wines and let us know your opinion.
