Aging in the barrel has several objectives :

• The clarification of the wine
• The oxidizing of the wine
• The stabilization of the wine

The clarification of the wine

The Bordeaux barrel, holding 225 liters, is a small recipient in which the wine precipitates the "lies" or dregs to the bottom with greater ease than with a larger volume.

This sedimentation of dregs, deposited simply due to gravity, is a procedure that has been observed for a long time. It permits one, without any other artifice, to obtain a limpid wine simply due to the passage of time. However one will later see that one can fine the wine in order to accelerate and perfect this phenomenon.

The oxidizing of the wine

Among these phenomena that influence the evolution of the taste of the wine, oxidizing is the most important. In fact, the slower the oxidation the better the wine.

One notes two procedures of aging :

• aging in the barrel
• aging in the bottle

In the barrel the oxidation is quicker. In the bottle it goes very slowly.

In the barrel the air penetrates by minuscule quantities between the pieces of wood. There is a steady infiltration as the barrel is always slightly in depression.

When the wine is in bottle the only way that air can enter is between the cork and the area in the neck of the bottle.

Considering that the cork is rigorously airtight, only the space between the cork and the wine can permit a feeble infiltration of oxygen. The less the bottle varies in temperature, the less the oxygen penetrates.

The stabilization of the wine

Theoretically the wine is biologically stable after the fermentation but it still contains CO2 dissolved in it. This element fades away during the time in barrel and notably during the racking.

Should a few traces of sugar or malic acid subsist in the wine they will be eliminated during this period in the barrel.

The wood tannins also play a part in the clarifying phenomena. Aromatically they influence the nose of the wine and its limpidity.

At the start the wine softens in the barrel but it can also become dry if it stays in the barrel for too long.

The aging of wine in barrel must be very closely controlled in order to define with the greatest precision the exact moment when it is ready for bottling.