This is actually how Lodi Flame Tokay, a fortified wine, was traditionally made - whiskey barrels would always ship with some whisky still in the barrel to prevent the staves from drying out. They’d pitch partially fermented flame tokay juice into the barrels and the whiskey would fortify the wine.
Agree. I’m seeing more and more of these types of wines showing up in stores. Pretty smart marketing when you think about it. Capitalize on the current market’s like of this kind of stuff and I’m sure they sell a ton of it at a pretty good margin.
From what I recall whiskey does too. Granted you could use a #1 char which is technically charred but for some crazy little amount of time. I’m a bit rusty but I think it goes up to a #7 or 8 char. I vaugly recall someone using one of the top chars at one point. How that would translate into wine use I’m not sure. I’d imagine a #6-7 char would mean you wouldn’t want to leave wine in it too long, even for a used one. But a #1 is relatively little charring and perhaps may work better for wine aging???
Yeah, I edited my post after you quoted me, I started thinking about the commercial moonshine products and don’t remember seeing one labeled ‘whiskey’ so I’d imagine you’re on the right path.
Even if you aged spirit in uncharred barrels I wonder how much color you can really pull from the wood.
For wine aging, low-char barrels offer a ton more ‘raw wood’ flavor which is really upfront and obnoxious. More char doesn’t necessarily result in more oak flavor.
With ‘these’ wines I think it’s all about the vanilla and mocha notes, but I doubt they’re using new or high quality barrels. Probably a combination of old, cheap barrels, oak chips/powder and various other flavor/texture enhancing additives.