This symposium is designed to explore the impacts of using oak barrels on the quality and composition of wine. The symposium is designed to address the fundamental aspects of coopering, oak chemistry, and barrel aging of wine. Specifically, this symposium will focus on how barrels are made, which types of wood are selected and how new species or genera are being investigated to understand their unique properties, as well as a review of barrel chemistry and its effects on wine composition. The event will include a tour of cooperages due to the close proximity of multiple cooperages in the Napa Valley. A tasting will also be provided highlighting the effects of using oak barrels on red wine composition during primary fermentation and aging.
Symposium Chair: Tom Collins, Washington State University, Tri-Cities
Program:
Program is subject to change.| 7:15 am – 8:45 am | Cooperage Tours: |
| 9:15 am – 10:00 am | Speaker To Be Determined |
| 10:00 am – 10:45 am | Oak Quality Considerations and Options for American Oak Barrels Anthony Morris, Canton Cooperage, Kentucky |
| 10:45 am – 11:00 am | Break |
| 11:00 am – 11:45 am | Impact of Variability in the Toasting Process on Composition of Oak Barrels Tom Collins, Washington State University, Tri-Cities |
| 11: 45 am – 12:30 pm | Barrel Chemistry and Its Effect on Wine and Spirit Composition: Lignin, Cellulose, and Sugars Jarrad Gollihue, University of Kentucky, Lexington |
| 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm | Lunch (on own) |
| 1:30 pm – 2:15 pm | How Oak Barrels Can Influence the Taste of Wine: Current Knowledge and Recent Acquisitions Delphine Winstel, Université de Bordeaux, France |
| 2:15 pm – 3:15 pm | Tank or Barrel? The Impact of Fermentation and Aging Red Wine in Stainless Steel Tanks and Oak Barrels (Tasting of experimental red wines fermented and aged in various combinations of oak barrels and stainless vessels.) Scott Frost, Washington State University, Tri-Cities |
| 3:15 pm – 3:30 pm | Break |
| 3:30 pm – 4:15 pm | Recent Advances in Barrel and Oxygen Ignacio Nevares&María del Alamo UVaMOX-Universidad de Valladolid, Spain |
| 4:15 pm – 4:45 pm | Q&A and Closing Remarks Tom Collins, Washington State University, Tri-Cities |