Page 126 - Terčelj, Dušan. 2015. The Culture of Wine in Slovenia. Edited by Aleš Gačnik. University of Primorska Press, Koper.
P. 126
he Culture of Wine in Slovenia
I have described the classical barrique method and what has to be taken into account if
we want to produce quality wine. Let me mention also what can be bought today under
the barrique label. The method is lengthy and expensive and only a few winemakers use
it and even those only for selected wines. Most winemakers keep wine in new barrels only
for a few months so that it obtains the aroma and flavour of wood. Then they combine
this wine with wine produced with the classical method and this results in what is known
as mild barrique wine. In order to make the production even cheaper and simpler, some
winemakers only put some oak shavings into the wine. In this case, no extraction of aroma
appears and the wine only “smells” of wood. Some merchants selling substances used in
winemaking even offer tannin extracts for achieving the barrique effect. Wines made in
this way bear no similarity to a true classical barrique wine. The true barrique method is a
lengthy enrichment of wine with aromatic and tannin substances, which demands a great
deal of time for these to combine with other substances in wine.
Let me list a few of the aromatic compounds that may appear in a barrique wine:
• Furane derivatives: appear with the heating of wood from hemicellulose (pentoses
and hexoses in the Maillard reaction), from pentoses there appears furfural, a typical
caramel aroma, and from hexoses hydroxymethylfurfural, producing the aroma of
almonds;
• Lactones: mostly γ-lactones, originating in grapes and synthesised during alcohol
fermentation; during the maturation of wine they are extracted from the wood, a
component of oak wood is 3-methyl-γ-lactone with the aroma of coconut;
• Volatile phenols: from unheated wood, eugenol – the aroma of cloves – is extracted,
and from heated wood (lignin), guayakol appears, the aroma of smoke;
• Aromatic alcohols, aldehydes and ketones: lignin with acid and alcohol hydrolysis
transforms into aldehydes: syringaldehyde, synapaldehyde and coniferaldehyde (the
aroma of bread), vanillin (the aroma of vanilla); from aldehydes, suitable acids also
appear: vanillin, cinnamic, sinapic, syringic, etc.; the aromatic ketones produce the
aroma of caramel.
Zlata Trta from 1917 is the
oldest Slovene archive wine.
The Ptuj wine cellar, 2006.
Photo: Staša Cafuta.
122
I have described the classical barrique method and what has to be taken into account if
we want to produce quality wine. Let me mention also what can be bought today under
the barrique label. The method is lengthy and expensive and only a few winemakers use
it and even those only for selected wines. Most winemakers keep wine in new barrels only
for a few months so that it obtains the aroma and flavour of wood. Then they combine
this wine with wine produced with the classical method and this results in what is known
as mild barrique wine. In order to make the production even cheaper and simpler, some
winemakers only put some oak shavings into the wine. In this case, no extraction of aroma
appears and the wine only “smells” of wood. Some merchants selling substances used in
winemaking even offer tannin extracts for achieving the barrique effect. Wines made in
this way bear no similarity to a true classical barrique wine. The true barrique method is a
lengthy enrichment of wine with aromatic and tannin substances, which demands a great
deal of time for these to combine with other substances in wine.
Let me list a few of the aromatic compounds that may appear in a barrique wine:
• Furane derivatives: appear with the heating of wood from hemicellulose (pentoses
and hexoses in the Maillard reaction), from pentoses there appears furfural, a typical
caramel aroma, and from hexoses hydroxymethylfurfural, producing the aroma of
almonds;
• Lactones: mostly γ-lactones, originating in grapes and synthesised during alcohol
fermentation; during the maturation of wine they are extracted from the wood, a
component of oak wood is 3-methyl-γ-lactone with the aroma of coconut;
• Volatile phenols: from unheated wood, eugenol – the aroma of cloves – is extracted,
and from heated wood (lignin), guayakol appears, the aroma of smoke;
• Aromatic alcohols, aldehydes and ketones: lignin with acid and alcohol hydrolysis
transforms into aldehydes: syringaldehyde, synapaldehyde and coniferaldehyde (the
aroma of bread), vanillin (the aroma of vanilla); from aldehydes, suitable acids also
appear: vanillin, cinnamic, sinapic, syringic, etc.; the aromatic ketones produce the
aroma of caramel.
Zlata Trta from 1917 is the
oldest Slovene archive wine.
The Ptuj wine cellar, 2006.
Photo: Staša Cafuta.
122
