Boise® Oak Chips Alternative: What You Need to Know

Oak aging of wine has been practiced for centuries, and actually dates back to the ancient Romans when they first started transporting wine in oak barrels to deliver it to their soldiers in the field. They quickly noticed the different flavour and aroma of the wines after they were in the barrels for the time of the journey. Today, oak aging is still highly popular with many types of wine, but there is a new way to go about it. Since winemakers find it difficult to control the results of their wine with just the oak barrels due to the fact that they lose some of their impact with age, they now also choose to add the Boise® oak chips alternative. This helps to ensure that they capture the desirable flavours and other characteristics that oak can provide to wines.

Why the Boise® Brand of Oak Chips? 

Boise® has a long history of providing only the best oak chips to winemakers. As one of the pioneers in precision winemaking, Boise® understands the importance of ensuring that each stage of winemaking produces the right results, especially the aging process. This company uses only French oak chips since they produce consistent results with each batch. With Boise® help, your wine and oak will intermingle in just the right manner to bring about unique, flavourful results. In addition, Boise® has organic and Kosher certifications with its oak chips.

How Oak Chips Work

Oak chips can be used during both the alcoholic fermentation stage and the aging process. Their purpose is to expand the contact that the wine has with the oak. In barrels, the wine only comes into contact around the edges, but with the addition of oak chips the interior of the wine quantity also can absorb all of oak’s goodness. This type of contact with the oak decreases the time it takes to age your wine to the desired stage.

You Can Choose From a Wide Assortment of Boise® Oak Chips

In order for you to fine tune your wine batches, Boise® offers a wide variety of oak chips, such as the following examples:

• Boise® DC180 provides vanilla notes, softness and roundness to wine
• Boise® BFP is a pumpable form of the BF untoasted oak and offers the same fruit and volume that the BF version provides to wine
• Boise® DC310 gives wine interesting grilled and coffee notes

To learn additional information about what you need to know before you use Boise® oak chips, contact Grapeworks Consumables. Our specialty is providing a wide assortment of products to fulfill your winemaking needs.