I just got a note from a friend that he loved a Louis Martini Cabernet 1978 aged in redwood. He is in the business, and generally fairly measured about the wines he drinks, so the fact he liked it so much, was telling. As you may know, the old Gemellos that have been so successful in some Judgment tastings, were also aged in redwood.it
I really don’t know too much about the effect of redwood aging, so am curious if any winemakers on the board have tried using it or other experiences with redwood aged wines.
Joel Peterson’s wines are fermented in redwood but I think he uses conventional barrels for aging. I would imagine redwood aging has a much more significant impact. I can’t recall the source but have read it lends some pretty rustic tannins and has a high flavor impact.
I have this ancient note, although I believe I am incorrect. I believe I learned later that this was FERMENTED in a large redwood cask.
1974 Joseph Phelps Insignia - USA, California, Napa Valley (4/17/2004) Seattle Tasting Group does 22 years of Phelps Insignia (Bellevue, WA, USA): This is 94% Cabernet and 6% Merlot, aged in redwood barrels, the inaugural release of Phelps Insignia. Out of 22 vintages tasted in a vertical tasting, this was one of the clear highlights. The highly expressive nose shows cedar, mint and a lightly floral element. It reminded me of a sauna! Oh my goodness, the palate is VERY much alive, very vibrant and full of fruit. Long, pure and sweet, this is a delicious and elegant wine, what a treat! (95 points)
I think redwood vats were fermentation and aging vessels of choice in California (along with concrete) until wineries started experimenting with smaller oak vessels in the 1960s and 1970s. Redwood was cheap and abundant in California. They were used in very large upright vessels since redwood doesn’t bend as easily as oak. They were also treated to remove sap and volatiles, sometimes coated, and I suspect also used for fermentation a couple of times before being used. In the large formats that were used I don’t think they imparted much flavor to the wine.
Beaulieu Vineyard still had big redwood tanks in the early 1980s, but they are long gone. A few old Italian wineries in Sonoma County still had them the 1970s and early 1980s, including Nervo and Rege (anyone else remember these two?) and probably Sebasitani and Foppiano. Redwood imparts a distinctive character, though my view is that character comes from previous vintages seeping into the wood.
Ravenswood and Once & Future used/use redwood fermenters. Barrels were/are oak. I should dig up my old photo of Joel Peterson standing on a bunch of oak barrels getting a sample.
Viano still has some redwood aging tanks.
Redwood received a large bump in use after the 1906 SF earthquake and fire when thousands of oak tanks and barrels burned along with much of the cooperage stock. Oak prices jumped over 400 percent overnight and redwood had already been used for water tanks and pipes. I think Arpad Harazsthy claimed to be the first to use them (among many other things) He published instructions for treating the tanks before use. I think hot water and salt was a main part of the treatment.
Hello All, what an interesting conversation. There were many California wines aged in large redwood tanks. I have see ones as large as 10,000 gallons. When I was at Martini and Prati where they had the most beautiful redwood tanks I had ever seen. A lovely cinnamon color that were kept immaculately clean. They would use some pretty hard chemicals on those beauties. They got a serious soak with Soda Ash before use and then refreshed with citric acid. That moderated the most aggressive of the Redwood tannins which could be considerable. Older tanks were pretty much neutral. I Ferment in Redwood open top fermenters, which is a technique I learned from Joe Swan. When the fermenters were new they were aggressively treated like the Martini and Prati tanks and coated with food grad wax before use. The first vintage in those tanks showed some red wood character which read like cedar and spice. Some of my 1991 wines show this. But they are all neutral now. I age wines in small french oak cooperage. I very much doubt that the 1974 Phelps was aged in Redwood. That was not Walter Shugs approach.
Christian Brothers made some wines kept in redwood barrels.
Long gone now, but they made magnum sized Zins that lived forever. They show up now and then…cheap!
A friend and I killed a 1978 zin last year and it was pretty great. It was made at the Greystone site before they switched to oak and then subsequently disappeared.
