The Guigal thread got me thinking about syrah and new oak, a combo I find particularly ill suited. I started to write a post that syrah might be my least favorite varietal to get oaked, and I’m not a fan of new oak in general.
But then I thought about merlot and oak. And Pinot noir and oak. And Nebbiolo and oak. Are those any better? Clearly lighter and more delicate grapes seem to suffer from lots of new oak in my experience.
I guess I would say that Cabernet Sauvignon handles new oak the best of the major red varietals, for my tastes. Zinfandel would be a close second.
But syrah and new oak is probably my least favorite, perhaps in part because it’s something I come across often enough to have developed an aversion to. The way the syrah aromatics get changed by new oak, turning so carmelly, it’s just not good.
To me, Tempranillo handles it best of the reds - I think I might agree with you regarding Syrah.
Of the whites, I guess Semillon handles it the best, while Chardonnay handles it the worst(!) - in terms of changing the character of the grapes.
Obviously this is very subjective and depends a lot on the wine and the oak used. That said, I have very little tolerance for overt oak aromas with Nebbiolo. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir seem to do very well with it when the oak is high quality and good decisions are made regarding how much new oak and for how long.
Back in the early ‘70’s, David Bruce made his Estate Riesling in a ton of new Fr.oak. It was spectacular, but not what you’d recognize as Riesling. 14+% alcohol. Actually, at 15-20 yrs out, it resembled an old Auslese some. But many people were repulsed by it. I accepted it for what it was.
Tom
What is the character of chardonnay grapes? If I can’t tell what a white is tasting blind because there’s no varietal* signature, I’ve found there’s a high chance it’s chardonnay.
With oak and chardonnay, there are good and bad combinations. Often the bad ones are bad more because they have too much oak and too little acid. A friend pored a '12 Mount Eden Chardonnay blindly to several of us last night and it was oaky … and outstanding. Lots of terrific French oak and a nice backbone of acid.
* That’s the correct usage because it’s an adjective here!
I agree … except that I find a lot of New World pinots take their oak very poorly. Often they are excessively spicy (cinnamon and cloves), which I suspect is the combination of relatively high alcohols with new oak, plus wine that doesn’t have the mid-palate density to offset the oak.
If paying attention, I can usually identify Chard blind because it has pretty clear organoleptic signatures in the mouth unless stripped away or masked by something else - like heavy toast oak or botrytis or excessive ripeness.
Yes, I agree. Then there are others from the New World that seem to handle a good bit of new oak very well. The ones I can think of are from Oregon, so maybe there is something about the combination of high alcohol/ripeness and new oak that seems to clash for me. Whatever the cause, it gets back to that pesky “it depends” thing.