This is a decent intro into wine barrels, and a cool look into larger wine barrels, but there were a few inaccuracies that bothered me. They mentioned that these barrels were expensive at up to...
This is a decent intro into wine barrels, and a cool look into larger wine barrels, but there were a few inaccuracies that bothered me.
They mentioned that these barrels were expensive at up to $50,000 each. That sounds expensive, but when you look at what the winery actually gets, it isn’t very expensive. A foudre at $50,000 is $1.66/liter. A standard size barrel is about $6.66/liter. That is also ignoring the fact that often wineries try to use new French oak, so the standard barrels are only used for 3-5 years. A foudre is designed to last decades.
The second issue was their reason for French oak being different than American oak. They are right that French oak has a tighter grain structure, but that isn’t really the heart of why they are different. First, they are entirely different species. To my knowledge, there hasn’t really been any attempts to grow the French oak varietal in America. American oak is significantly less prone to leaking. The wood structure has tubes running through it (I forget the name of those tube structures). In American oak, the tubes are filled with lignified structures that reduce and prevent liquids moving through those tubes. Therefore, American oak can be sawn into planks to build a barrel, since perfect alignment of the grain structure isn’t necessary. French oak planks are split instead of sawn (they do show saws in the video; I think that is just for the final shaping and refinement).
Overall a good video, but as with any 15 minute YouTube video, it can’t dive into all of the details in an industry.
I don’t remember hearing that word exactly in my classes, but that’s definitely part of it. I think the overall tubes would be the xylem (although I swear they used another word for it; might be...
I don’t remember hearing that word exactly in my classes, but that’s definitely part of it. I think the overall tubes would be the xylem (although I swear they used another word for it; might be an industry specific jargon). The trachied look like they are probably the cells that create the blockers in American oak that don’t exist in French oak.
After digging around a bit more, I'm actually surprised by how little information there is on Wikipedia about particular plant/tree cells/cell types/structures, and the study of them. They clearly...
After digging around a bit more, I'm actually surprised by how little information there is on Wikipedia about particular plant/tree cells/cell types/structures, and the study of them. They clearly need some more botany/dendrology/xylology experts contributing. Hell, xylology (the branch of dendrology specifically focused on the study of wood) is still just a blank entry at this point despite being referenced and linked to in several other related articles.
Might "capillaries" be the word you're looking for? I'm pretty sure xylem is the specific word for the tubes themselves, and "capillary action" is what drives fluid through them, but I seem to...
Might "capillaries" be the word you're looking for?
I'm pretty sure xylem is the specific word for the tubes themselves, and "capillary action" is what drives fluid through them, but I seem to recall hearing them called "capillary tubes" when I was a kid.
I don’t think so. They definitely function through capillary action like you said, but I don’t remember them being called capillaries. Honestly at this point, I kinda feel like I might just be...
I don’t think so. They definitely function through capillary action like you said, but I don’t remember them being called capillaries. Honestly at this point, I kinda feel like I might just be misremembering the whole thing and they were just called xylem or capillaries or something. Memory’s a funny thing.
This is a decent intro into wine barrels, and a cool look into larger wine barrels, but there were a few inaccuracies that bothered me.
They mentioned that these barrels were expensive at up to $50,000 each. That sounds expensive, but when you look at what the winery actually gets, it isn’t very expensive. A foudre at $50,000 is $1.66/liter. A standard size barrel is about $6.66/liter. That is also ignoring the fact that often wineries try to use new French oak, so the standard barrels are only used for 3-5 years. A foudre is designed to last decades.
The second issue was their reason for French oak being different than American oak. They are right that French oak has a tighter grain structure, but that isn’t really the heart of why they are different. First, they are entirely different species. To my knowledge, there hasn’t really been any attempts to grow the French oak varietal in America. American oak is significantly less prone to leaking. The wood structure has tubes running through it (I forget the name of those tube structures). In American oak, the tubes are filled with lignified structures that reduce and prevent liquids moving through those tubes. Therefore, American oak can be sawn into planks to build a barrel, since perfect alignment of the grain structure isn’t necessary. French oak planks are split instead of sawn (they do show saws in the video; I think that is just for the final shaping and refinement).
Overall a good video, but as with any 15 minute YouTube video, it can’t dive into all of the details in an industry.
Tracheid? Thanks for the additional info, BTW. Interesting stuff!
I don’t remember hearing that word exactly in my classes, but that’s definitely part of it. I think the overall tubes would be the xylem (although I swear they used another word for it; might be an industry specific jargon). The trachied look like they are probably the cells that create the blockers in American oak that don’t exist in French oak.
After digging around a bit more, I'm actually surprised by how little information there is on Wikipedia about particular plant/tree cells/cell types/structures, and the study of them. They clearly need some more botany/dendrology/xylology experts contributing. Hell, xylology (the branch of dendrology specifically focused on the study of wood) is still just a blank entry at this point despite being referenced and linked to in several other related articles.
Might "capillaries" be the word you're looking for?
I'm pretty sure xylem is the specific word for the tubes themselves, and "capillary action" is what drives fluid through them, but I seem to recall hearing them called "capillary tubes" when I was a kid.
I don’t think so. They definitely function through capillary action like you said, but I don’t remember them being called capillaries. Honestly at this point, I kinda feel like I might just be misremembering the whole thing and they were just called xylem or capillaries or something. Memory’s a funny thing.