Can you tell the difference between American oak and French oak in a wine?
Types of Oak
Oak is used as a tool to literally season wines, let them breathe a bit (micro-oxygenation) and add tannins. All these add complexities, texture, structure and can increase aging potential. Not all types or varieties of wine are suitable for extensive oak aging, but there are reds and white varieties that commonly use it like Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. It may depend on the region, winemaker and level/quality of the wine though. Oak is expensive, so oak aging can make a wine more expensive and is often used for a winery’s best quality fruit. FYI, I should also mention that occasionally other types of wood are used besides oak too, but oak is by far the most common.
How and to what degree does oak affect a wine depends on many factors. Firstly, the size and shape of the barrels matter. The larger the vessel, the less influence of the oak. Second, if the oak is new or used affects how much influence the oak has on the wine. After around 5 years of use, an oak is considered neutral giving little flavor but still giving the oxygenation desired. If the wine is fermented in the oak versus only aged in oak also can change the oak’s influence. Putting wine in oak during fermentation integrates the oak faster into the wine.
The quality of the oak and barrel coopers also matters, with some of the best wineries having their own coopers or only buying the best barrels. On the other end of the spectrum, some cheap, mass produced wines only use oak chips or oak extract to give their wines oak influence.
Another major factor is the level of toasting. The lighter the toasting of the barrel, the more tannic, floral and fresh spiced it is. The more it is toasted, then the more caramel, chocolate, baking spices and smokey notes.
Finally, the type of oak, usually French, American and/or Slavonian oak, is an important choice. Slavonian oak is the most neutral of the three. American oak tends to have coarser grains, which lead to faster aging. Typical notes are vanilla, dill, coconut and creamy notes. French oak is generally more expensive and fine grained, which leads to longer aging, a more elegant feel and complexity from aging such as clove and sweet spices.
Of course how long a wine is aged in oak affects all of the above. With all these factors, it might be difficult for me as a consumer to pick out how much of a wine’s influence was due to American oak as opposed to French oak. Then you add bottle age and some varietal characteristics that somewhat overlap with some of the oak notes like spices and tobacco, which might be hard for one to distinguish as from the oak, the aging or the variety.
Obviously the choice between American and French matters for the producer to shape the wine as they want, but for the consumer being able to determine the difference is mainly for nerds who want to correctly blind taste wines. I’m a wannabe wine nerd, so if I can detect American oak, then I know it’s more likely to be Rioja or perhaps California rather than Bordeaux or Bordeaux blends from other parts of the world. Detecting American oak could also mean it’s Australian to a lesser extent, but again, the trend is towards French oak everywhere. American oak was more common in Chile, but now it’s rare to see it unless it’s a mix of both American and French oak.
Rioja & Oak Trends
The trend nowadays is to lessen the amount of oak or new oak. Still, most wineries looking to up their game and make international, modern wines choose to use French oak.
However, Rioja has a long history of using American oak since the late 1800’s. Super-traditional Rioja like Lopez de Heredia use all or mostly used American oak but the wines spend at least 3 years in barrel. Other producers use larger amounts of new American oak like Rioja Alta or Marqués de Murrieta. However, nowadays some more modern producers have decided to use French oak or a combination of French and American oak like Beronia.
For this comparison, I found a more traditional producer, Marques de Riscal, whose Reservas are aged 21 months in used American oak. The other producer, Roda, ages their Reservas in French oak (40% new, 60% second use) for 14 months. Let’s see if I can detect the difference between the American oak and French oak although the amount of new and time oak may also play a factor.
Tasting Notes
2019 Marques de Riscal Reserva Rioja
21 months in used American oak barrels. Tempranillo with some Graciano. The nose shows dried dill with a touch of vanilla, cedar and dark berry fruit on the nose. The palate continues with the dark fruit but there’s an underlying streak of acidity which keeps it structured and fresh. Medium-full bodied. Tannins are rather soft at this point and the alcohol was in check despite being 14.5%. There are lingering savory herbal notes on the back end. Classic Rioja with well integrated and tamed oak and tannins at 6 years of age. On the second day, the vanilla and cedar were more pronounced on the nose. Some coffee on the palate. 90
2020 Roda Reserva Rioja
89% Tempranillo, 6% Garnacha, 5% Graciano. 14 months in French oak. 40% New. 60% second use. Overall, this leans more towards a modern Bordeaux or Ribera del Duero. There’s ripe dark fruit on the nose and palate but it’s balanced out by medium-plus acid, red fruit as well. You get the chocolate, spice, cedar and creamier texture that comes from French oak while the 14.5% alcohol is seamless as are the suave tannins. Medium+ body. Drinking well right out the gate. Modern, but keeps its freshness and balance to please all types of wine drinkers. 92
Conclusion
I cheated by not drinking them blind, so that perhaps influenced what I detected since I might have been looking for typical notes. However, it did seem clear to me that the one with French oak showed more silkiness in feel and more chocolate and spice in terms of its flavor profile as opposed to more vanilla and dill from the American oaked Rioja. One was definitely “classic” Rioja while the French oaked Rioja was more modern and Ribera del Duero-like Tempranillo, which typically uses French oak too.