Oak, a symbol of strength and hardness, is a noble wood used to make barrels where great wines are aged, as new wood provides important nuances, aroma, flavour and personality, due to the oxygenation achieved through the pores of the oak.

Although we can think that the same oak is used to build buildings or ships, as the one used to make wine barrels, they are different species. Oak wood is used because it best maintains the organoleptic characteristics of the wine.

Although it depends on the wine to be produced or the regulations of some designations of origin, generally, French or American oak wood is used for Ribera del Duero wines.

To choose a variety of oak, one takes into account the hardness, resistance, flavour and aroma that it adds to the wines. The basis of the quality and the characteristics that it contributes to a wine is due to the grain, the texture of the wood. For example, the grain of French oak is finer, less porous, and has less oxygen, less tannins and richer vanilla. American oak adds a greater variety of aromas such as coconut, coffee, roasted and toasted notes.

To make a barrel, the staves are assembled and heated to bend them, this is called toasting. This process also contributes to giving personality, aroma and flavor to the wine, since depending on the degree of toasting, the wine will have certain characteristics or others.

Oak helps prolong the life of the wine due to the tannins that the wood provides and that collaborate with aging. The wood of the barrel contributes to increasing the tonality of the wine, since the tannins of the barrel react with the anthocyanins of the wine, which are responsible for generating the color of the wine. As for what oak contributes to the flavour and aromas of the wine, this will depend on the time it is aged in the barrel and the type of wood, which will also add body and structure to the wine.

All Bodegas Federico wines are aged in American oak barrels for between 8 and 24 months, depending on whether it is Tinto Federico Roble, Tinto Federico Crianza, Tinto Federico Reserva or Tinto Federico Gran Reserva. In the publication The Complex Aromas of Wine, we already specified the aromas that these red wines have depending on the ageing: aromas of ripe red fruit, spices, vanilla, toast, roasted, leather, dried fruit, balsamic touches…