Wines aged in Canadian oak?

Question

Has anyone tasted a wine that was aged in Canadian oak barrels? From what I understand, oak from Canada has finer grain than either French or American oak and is supposed to lend a unique flavour profile.

Answer 1

David H is absolutely correct. Lailey Vineyards, under winemaker Derek Barnett, lead the Ontario wine industry into Canadian Oak and it is a huge smash. Inniskillin is the largest of the wineries that use Canadian Oak but that will change in the next few years. Most of the Ontario wineries make a Canadian Oak Cabernet Franc which are fabulous. I had the opportunity to try side by side an American Oak Cabernet Franc and a Canadian Oak Cabernet Franc from Lailey Vineyard a little less than a month ago and my preference was definitely the Canadian Oak. It was more mellow and had similar characteristics to the French oak whereas the American was harsher on the stomach and gave a lot of vanilla flavours and smells to the wine - not exactly something I like to see in a Cabernet Franc, personally. Although it was suggested you contact the LCBO in Ontario and the BCLCB in British Columbia to find out who makes Canadian oaked wines, I'm going to suggest another website for you to look at. I'm not sure about the BCLCB, but in Ontario, the LCBO only gets the wines that the winery wants them to sell so most of the Canadian oaked products don't even get shelf space in the LCBO stores. A better way to find out is to go to the winery's website and look through their products. Since there are over 100 wineries in the province of Ontario now, that can be a bit intimidating if you don't have a general list of every winery in the province. The best website to find that general list is the Wine Council of Ontario's site:

http://www.winesofontario.org/home.htm

On the left hand side of that page, you will see a heading called "Travel the Wine Route". If you hover over that a side menu will appear and it will be broken down by the various wine regions in Ontario. As I mentioned before, Lailey Vineyards and Inniskillin are two that use Canadian Oak. One other thing to remember that the other kind of barrels that are starting to become popular is Hungarian Oak. A few of the Ontario wineries are using it as well for some of their white wines.

When it comes to the barrels itself, the farmers who produce the Canadian oak barrels send their wood to American cooperages (barrelmakers) because we don't really have anyone up here that is skilled in making barrels - and it is a skill. Some people have just tried for the sake of trying and end up going to the US cooperage houses. Most of the cooperages in the United States are in Kentucky and Tennessee with a few in Missouri.

Answer 2

While Hank is wrong about there are no oak trees native to Canada or the US, I have 3 acrossed the street in th park and I live in Ontario, they are 40 feet tall and probably 100 yrs old, but you question was about oak aged Canadain wines, I was a in a wine club for years and tasted may local and imported wines, most of the barrel aged wine's in Canada are from imported oak barrles true, but they are high end chardonnays and maybe some heartier reds, Savignon or Merlots or even some Marchel Foch, a unique vintage not found outside of France very much. Most other are done in Stainless Steel in the winery's.

I know Inniskillin and some other one's from Niagara and a number from the Okanagan Valley in B.C have had some barrel time, it is best to check there websites for the exact ones they do age that way (the LCBO in Ontario or BCLCB in B.C.). As most of the native oaks have not got the tannins France oak has that is more than likely why they use imported barrels, although alot of the American whiskys like bourbon and sour mash end up in American made barrels, they might be oak or it could be ash or maple??

Answer 3

I have not tasted it to my knowledge, however I have researched it. The articles I have read suggest the taste it lends to wines is somewhere between French and American oak. Don't forget Hungarian oak barrels, not that many wines aged in these would make it to Canada. It is an interesting question. One I intend to look into. I am attending a IVS tasting next week perhaps I can find details there.

Answer 4

Yes, I have tried it and I can't detect any significant different in taste. Just for your interest, wine aged in oak will soon be a thing of the past as oak worldwide is getting extremely difficult to find. Vineyards have a plan in place to artificially replace the oak ageing process by the use of chemicals. UCK!

Answer 5

nicely, some Canadian wines focused as VQA are scrumptious (surprisingly many from B.C. province and quite from the northern Okanagan Valley, and a few from the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario province) yet others are purely frequent or perhaps detrimental (I actual have yet to style a Nova Scotia province wine which became palatable). Availability of VQA wines exterior of Canada are hindered at recent via 2 components: (a million) a disasterous classic twelve months a pair of years in the past in Ontario, and (2) B.C. wines having been "got here across" many are bought out right this moment. I advise which you e mail the two the B.C. and Ontario wine manufacturers' institutions to ask that are exported to the U.ok. I doubt you will discover that any of the small estates are, yet there may be some exported via the massive business enterprise possessing various of the main important wine estates (in the two Ontario and B.C.), Vincor Corp. (even interior the middle of Canadian gastronomy, Quebec and Montreal, in basic terms approximately 7 B.C. wines are obtainable and all of them are Vincor produced). playstation . in case you detect any they're apt to be high priced. a undeniable B.C. wine that expenses approximately $CDN 14 (approximately 6 pounds) there and $CDN 15 in Ontario and $CDN 17 in Quebec (all provincial government monopoly administration platforms wherein wineries would desire to placed up annual fees to the monopolies, as are the wholesale platforms in all Canadian provinces) became those days marketed - marketed! - via the best great wine save in Boston, MA us of a (private loose business enterprise) at $US 40 (approximately 20 pounds).

Answer 6

There is no such thing as either "Canadian" or "American" oak; that's just geographic terms - there is no oak species that grows in Canada that does not also grow in the States.

What is known as "French" oak is the Limousin species.