I had the pleasure of tasting a few wines at Cox Creek Cellars last
Saturday and one of them was a Chestnut barreled Pinot Noir. I must say,
the Pinot had that certain "je-ne-sais-quoi" that I'm attributing to the
chesnut barrel... anyone know where Chestnut barrels or staves could be
had?

Cox Creek Cellars would be of interest to many fruit winemakers as well,
they have a large variety of fruit wines there as well...

I don't work for them, just thought any people in the
Kitchener/Guelph/Hamilton/GTA area might be interested in some neat
stuff going on in their own backyard :^)

--
charles

"Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were
forced to live on nothing but food and water for days."
- W.C. Fields

"Charles H" > wrote in message
...
> I had the pleasure of tasting a few wines at Cox Creek Cellars last
> Saturday and one of them was a Chestnut barreled Pinot Noir. I must say,
> the Pinot had that certain "je-ne-sais-quoi" that I'm attributing to the
> chesnut barrel... anyone know where Chestnut barrels or staves could be
> had?

I was curious about Chestnut barrels too, so I asked my barrel broker about
them. Here is his reply:
"Chestnut is usually coated with paraffin or something similar. We did an
experiment with untreated barrels at Mondavi in the early '80s. The results
combined the worst of unripe persimmons, peanut butter and bad
wine....something very tannic that stuck to the roof of your mouth."

Tom S

Chestnut is a close relative of oak. Wood grains are similar. Don't
know about other properties.
Tim

Tom S wrote:

> I was curious about Chestnut barrels too, so I asked my barrel broker about
> them. Here is his reply:
> "Chestnut is usually coated with paraffin or something similar. We did an
> experiment with untreated barrels at Mondavi in the early '80s. The results
> combined the worst of unripe persimmons, peanut butter and bad
> wine....something very tannic that stuck to the roof of your mouth."

Hmmm... interesting... I couldn't describe the pinot I had in those
terms... I suppose the only thing to do is look for more wines that are
chesnut aged and try them.

--
charles

"Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were
forced to live on nothing but food and water for days."
- W.C. Fields

"Charles H" > wrote in message
...
> Tom S wrote:
>
> > I was curious about Chestnut barrels too, so I asked my barrel broker
about
> > them. Here is his reply:
> > "Chestnut is usually coated with paraffin or something similar. We did
an
> > experiment with untreated barrels at Mondavi in the early '80s. The
results
> > combined the worst of unripe persimmons, peanut butter and bad
> > wine....something very tannic that stuck to the roof of your mouth."
>
> Hmmm... interesting... I couldn't describe the pinot I had in those
> terms... I suppose the only thing to do is look for more wines that are
> chesnut aged and try them.

I had asked him about chestnut barrels because I had never tried them and I
was (am) curious. I know they're used in balsamic vinegar production, but
I've never seen them used - or even available - here in the US.

Sounds like they might be overwhelmingly tannic.

Tom S

>
> Sounds like they might be overwhelmingly tannic.
>
> Tom S
>
>

bit late on chiming in here. Though there's no mention on his website,
Dennis Horton described to me years ago the use of Chesnut barrels. He was
importing them from Spain if memory serves me. Not sure if he's still using
them or not.

I have in possession a bottle of Chambourcin that was "chipped" with
Chestnut. I've never been disapointed by the wines from this hobbiest, so
have some great expectations for this sample.

clyde

> >
> >
>
> bit late on chiming in here. Though there's no mention on his website,
> Dennis Horton

Failed to add this link:

http://www.hvwine.com/

clyde