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    Oak ageing

    A barrel is not a container but an active vessel that breathes and gives.

    The barrel

    The classic Bordeaux barrel holds 225 litres; the barrels in one recent study were made of French oak, Quercus petraea.1

    Oxygen passes into the wine through the wood: reported rates range from 5 to 45 mg/L a year. One new barrel measured 11.4 mg/L a year, about 14.4 mg/L in the first year including oxygen held in the wood's pores.1

    Oak also releases lignans, coumarins, ellagitannins and lactones. The authors call barrels active vessels that profoundly change the composition of wine.1

    Time in wood, by law

    Some appellations write wood into their rules. A Rioja Reserva spends at least a year in oak.2 Barolo spends at least 18 months in wood.3 See Rioja and Barolo.

    Regions

    Sources

    1. Oxygen gas transfer through oak barrels: a macroscopic approach (Junqua, Zeng, Pons, OENO One 55(3)). OENO One, 2021. level 3 · checked 2026-10-13
    2. Classification. Consejo Regulador DOCa Rioja. level 1 · checked 2026-10-13
    3. Barolo DOCG — Production regulations (English translation of the disciplinare). Consorzio di Tutela Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe e Dogliani, 2019. level 1 · checked 2026-10-13