The origin of barrel aging and how the United Kingdom and France changed the history of wine. The aging of wines is born with the transport of this one. The origin of the aging of the wines coincides with the need to transport it from the production areas to the points of consumption. Next we will make a tour of its history.

According to historical data, the first sign is found about 4000 years ago in Mesopotamia where there were no vines, and wine as a luxury product was imported from Syria and Armenia where wine was produced long before, and also coincides with the original area of the vine.

The wine traveled from this production area to the south in clay amphorae of approximately 10 liters capacity, being transported by caravans or by river.

Later, the Phoenician merchants from the ports of Tire and Sidon marketed the wine throughout the Mediterranean basin, evolving the containers to other volumes, no larger than 200 to 300 kg in weight, so that they could be handled by one or two people before the absence of mechanical means, and constructed in addition with resistant materials to the frequent blows and falls that these underwent in their manipulation, before and during the trip on the backs of cavalries, carts and even unstable boats of candle.

It was in the south of the Mediterranean where the evolution of the transport containers occurred and, by the logical consequence of the trade, they went from the static jar of clay, to the light and slender Phoenician, Greek and even Roman amphora.

The fragility of these containers was solved with the use of skins or wineskins for wine, made with leather tanned and waterproofed with resins or “fish”, of great ductility and resistance to transport, but also deforming the characteristics of the wine with strange smells and flavors , typical of leather and its tanned and waterproofed.

From the Roman era, from its foundation in 750 BC until its fall in 475, the best wines of the Empire traveled to the houses of Roman nobles and patricians in perfectly sealed clay amphoras, keeping within them, almost intact , the excellent wines produced in Greece, and the Mediterranean coasts of Gaul and Hispania, generally carried out by sea.
During this time, in the countries of the north, the large-volume deposits where the wines were made and stored were made of wood as a material that could easily be found in the environment, and which could also be worked with great ease;

Then they evolved into small volume transport containers and built of the same wood, appearing then a large number of containers such as: barrels, barrels, barrels and similar, all with capacities ranging from 200 to 500 liters.
Possibly this type of container was used in the time of the Romans, as a container for land transport in carts, dragged by oxen or horses and from the same vineyard regions of the Italian peninsula, or producing areas of the center and north of Gaul, as well as of the Roman zone of the neighbor Germania.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, and many years passed until good taste for wine again appeared, its transport continued to be carried out in wooden containers, using mainly oak, as it is an abundant material in the production area. the wines, very little permeable and in addition to great hardness and resistance.

In France the wines traveled by land from the production area of Burgundy, to the consumption centers in the neighboring Franche-Comté, and the Netherlands with the areas of Flanders, Holland, Bramante, Luxembourg, Artois and Picardy.

In the case of the wines of Bordeaux, these also traveled in barrels generally constructed of Limousin oak, to markets such as Paris and especially to England as a fledgling commercial power of the first magnitude, as they undoubtedly became fond of this type of wine during its long stay in French soil from the year 1337 until 1453, where they were expelled by the French in the war of 100 years. The wines were probably shipped to England from the ports of Bordeaux and La Rochelle.

The French were leaders in the oak industry
Before the needs of oak that required for the shipbuilding, the kingdom of France promoted as strategic weapon a policy of the cultivation of the oak in its territory, being executed directly by the State; while in other countries such as England and Spain, once the local oak groves were exploited, they did not replace them for convenience, and imported this valuable material from the American continent under their control. This fact has possibly marked the popularity of French oak and the growth of this industry.

In France Minister Colbert promoted in the year 1661 a Law of the general reform of forests and their cultivation. A simple political decision, which nevertheless turned the French into world leaders in the oak industry, also increasing the value of their wines.

Today France has an area of oak superior to that of its vineyards, with 2,534,000 hectares of oak forests in full production, being directly managed by the State, with a productive cycle of 150 to 200 years, and where they are exploited annually 3.5 million m ‘of wood per year.

The drivers of wine aging

Although the United Kingdom is not a major wine producer, it has historically been a great consumer, which gives it great power to establish commercial patterns of wine, and therefore also of its quality to satisfy its consumers.
The origin and fame of the wines of the Canary Islands, Jerez, Malaga, Porto, Madeira and Bordeaux, is due to maritime trade with the United Kingdom, with days or weeks of sailing to their destinations, and where the wines were transported in containers of wood of 200 to 600 liters capacity, which made them evolve during the voyage.
In addition, due to the long journey, the wines were added alcohol (they “headed” with wine alcohol), to better support the trip and reduce the effects of strong oxidation conditions. They were also generally sweet wines, due to the particular taste of the consumers of the destination country, and giving rise to the mythical liqueur and generous wines.

For this trade, containers of American oak were generally used, large barrels (boots) of 500 to 600 liters capacity were constructed, where bulk wines were sent to the place of destination, and where they were packaged in smaller containers for their subsequent distribution. The empty transport containers did not return to their places of origin, but they were taken advantage of and sent to Scotch whiskey distilleries, for the aging of this distillate, being also a fact that gave a greater value to the whiskey.

From the French ports to the south coast of the United Kingdom, the crossing was much shorter, and therefore it was not necessary to add any additive or preservative to the wines produced in the wine-growing region of Bordeaux, because due to their short distance, these they did not arrive at their destiny excessively oxidized, and in addition the coloring matter of the red varieties and the good work of the French producers, prevented or reduced this circumstance.

Over the years, consumers became accustomed to the wines transported under these conditions, the wine remaining a longer or shorter time in oxidation inside oak wood containers, and later another of longer duration until its consumption within bottles in reducing environment, being precisely this the origin of the current system of mixed aging of the wines, where the aromas of the oak wood are only a collateral aspect of this process.

Learn about premium Chilean wines.
Visit our website: www.cortahojas.com
If you need information about chilean wines from cortahojas.com visit our website where you will find all our contact information