Oak experiments yield mixed results (UK)

UK wine professionals were guinea pigs at a seminar yesterday as they tasted the results of Taransaud prototypes and product developments. Among the wines shown by the barrel maker were a Sauvignon from a wooden egg-shaped fermentor and a Chardonnay aged in a barrel designed to enhance the grape’s aromas and longevity. The event, dubbed “Oak and wine… the road to complexity”, comprised a series of presentations followed by tastings, some of which were blind, to illustrate the effects of oak shape, size and treatments on a wine’s flavour and structure, reports The Drinks Business.