Barrel Symposium

Today I get to attend the Washington Wine Technical Group Barrel Symposium instead of going to the winery. Eight full hours of discussing oak. There are 10 speakers, and 7 different topics. The topics include; oak alternatives, microoxygenation, barrel care and maintenance, microbiology  for wine aging,  chemistry of oak alternatives and flavors, and oak barrel decisions in winemaking. There are also 3 panels loaded with exceptional Washington winemakers discussing there opinions and methods on these topics.

I always love these seminars. The Washington Wine Technical Group is a serious group focused on improving the Washington wine industry through communication and science. The learning potential is extreme as well as the networking opportunities.  Some meeting are formal like this one. Others include varietal tastings, regional tastings and an awesome 'base camp' that's main purpose was to share icky wines and discuss reasons for the ick and possible fixes.

Today the main theme seems to be 'It's Complicated! Since we are talking about barrels I will say that there are around 15,000 aromatic chemical compounds just in the wood. There are about 12 that are normally focused on in research. Some of the compounds react with the wine, some don't. There are even more compounds in wine. So although every research project provides a new piece to the puzzle there is still a long way to go to complete the puzzle. This is why winemaking is an art as well as a science. Using the science to the best of your ability and creatively filling in the blanks to make a delicious product