Premium Oak Chips: an oenological tool

 

The use of oak chips is an established method of adding subtle quantities of wood notes to wine. To get the best results a winemaker must first understand his or her objectives to effectively use oak alternative products such as chips.

 

Is the wine to be treated just one component of a blend? How long will the winemaker allow oak contact? Does he want to improve structure, complexity, sweetness, mouthfeel, wood characters or does he want to attenuate vegetable notes...? There are many questions that require answer to best optimize the appropriate treatment of a wine.


The winemakers ultimate goal and vision will determine which oak alternative may be recommended: wood origin (French oak or American oak), a size of product (granular, chips or others), level of toasting, total amount of oak per volume of wine (winemaking or aging) as well as contact time.

 

Laffort Oenology, through Nobile® now can offer a large range of oak chips for winemaking and wine ageing : Nobile® Fresh to enhance fruit character and support wine structure - Nobile® Spice to emphasize fruity and spiced characters and to intensify the mouthfeel - Nobile® Sweet to increase the sensation of sweetness and favour the emergence of toasty notes - Nobile® Intense to develop roasted character and to amplify the mouthfeel – Finally, Nobile® American Blend to increase the sensation of sweetness and to confer vanilla and smoky notes.


More information: www.laffort.com

 

Chantal Bompas
Nobile product manager

 

 

 

 

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