Wine wisdom

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- Clayton Fox

Ask Decanter

Each month our experts answer your burning wine questions. Email your queries to editor@decanter.​com

FROM BARREL TO BOTTLE Your coverage of the Bordeaux 2023 en primeur campaign led me to wonder how my Bordeaux wine will change between these in-barrel tastings and release in bottle. Sarah Anderson, by email

Panos Kakaviatos, Decanter contributor and en primeur correspondent with Georgie Hindle, replies: Tasting hundreds of Bordeaux barrel samples in April this year, one wondered how the 2023 vintage will perform once bottled. Will wines end up oaky? Too tannic? Just right? Boring? Is there a crystal ball to know for sure? Most estates certify a ‘representative barrel sample’ (échantillon, as pictured), usually coming from a new oak barrel, when the annual spring tastings occur, but some make the proviso that it’s not the final blend. Without fail, each year someone whispers, ‘You realise that some châteaux have you taste only the most successful samples’. But in the 20+ years that I’ve been barrel tasting at en primeur, most samples prove to be an honest reflection of how the wines could perform once in bottle.

Assuming a representative red sample is selected, how will 18-22 months of barrel ageing affect the wine once bottled, considering the use of older oak and an increasing use of other ageing vessels, such as terracotta amphorae?

Ageing wine in barrels effects two transformations: (i) ‘micro-oxygenation’ allows a controlled amount of oxygen to interact with wine, shaping its tannic profile; and (ii) tannin from the oak itself interacts with wine tannin. The use of more neutral amphorae results in less oak tannin, but most estates still age wine in some new oak.