Insights on wine barrels, wood origins and technicalities with Mel Knox barrel broker

Looking Into Wine

Wine Barrels made from oak are among the oldest technologies used to produce wines.
But where all the wood to produce all those barrels, what oak is good for Barrels, what do we do next?
With my gest Mel Knox, an international semiretired wine barrel broker with over 40 years of experience in trading and researching wine barrels for winemaking sourcing some of the most esteemed tonnellerie/barrel-maker from France, we explore the ins and outs of this fascinating part of winemaking.
There are hundreds of species of oak, all of which can be broadly separated into two categories, red and white.
The red oaks are porous and cannot, therefore, be relied upon for watertight cooperage. For wine three sorts of white oak are most important, one American and two European Quercus sessiliflora and Quercus robur, Mel Says, Oak can be divided into two types, red oak--it leaks-- and white oak, which is used for barrels.
White oak is found 1/in the area roughly defined by east of the great plains, south of Canada, north of Mexico and Florida, and the Atlantic Ocean.
There is also a bit of Oregon oak found...mostly in western Oregon and Washington,
Also, he adds’ You have different barrel approaches for different varieties. With Pinot, you are trying to beef up the wine whereas with cabernet you are trying to tame the wine.
What is done after the right oak plant to make a barrel is chosen? What can affect the resulting style of wine? What are the risks?
I went maybe ten years without selling anything but 60 gallon and smaller sized barrels. Now larger barrels and tanks are more popular. But it's still a small part of the business.
He also adds on the show how he was working with Robert Mondavi and how he asked to untoasted barrels and used vapour instead that was the first winery to ever do that.
Did you know that oak also contains TCA or Cork Taint? Mel uses high traceability systems to ensure that everything is monitored from source to client.
We also hear about Mel story of sourcing some of the wines for the famous Judgement of Paris and he pays tribute to the late Steven Spurriel
Some other useful links on the topic
http://www.knoxbarrels.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCrkmyQtQIM&t=1s
The following are affiliate links, it costs you nothing to use them but I get a small percentage when you buy something, so thanks!
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