Oak 12 aromas

The aromas

Unlike concrete or stainless steel vats, wooden casks impart aromas to wine. In this kit you will discover 12 of the most characteristic woody notes in a wine’s bouquet:

• 1 oak
• 2 green wood (fault)
• 3 coconut
• 4 vanilla pod
• 5 woody-spicy
• 6 clove
• 7 smoky
• 8 medicinal
• 9 new leather
• 10 roasted coffee
• 11 burnt sugar
• 12 candied orange

The book

This is an indispensable tool for professionals (winemakers, coopers, oenologists, sommeliers, etc.) or for amateurs who want to ‘take it to the next level’, as the vast majority of fine wines and premium spirits spend some time in oak.

The book was entirely rewritten in 2020, drawing on the most recent historical discoveries and advances in silviculture and chemistry to better explain how oak barrels influence the sensory quality of wine. From the species of oak to the choices made by the winemaker, it describes all the parameters that vary the intensity and quality of the woody character.

Léa Desportes, a wine journalist and tasting instructor, is the author and coordinator of this new edition. Philippe Darriet, Director of the Oenology Research Unit at the Bordeaux Institute of Vine and Wine Sciences wrote the foreword.

A separate notebook (4 pages) describes how wine barrels are made and the associated terminology.

In this new edition, each aroma vial is accompanied by a large-format (16 x 23 cm) fact sheet that explains the origin of the note in the wine.