# Sauvignon Blanc -- oak or not?



## winemaker81 (Oct 16, 2020)

I made an impulse purchase of 7 gallons of Lanza Sauvignon Blanc juice, which is currently nearing the end of fermentation. It will be bulk aged in a pair of 3 gallon glass carboys.

Oak or not oak? I'm debating if I want to oak the wine, and if so, what oak to use.

One option is to add 1 oz medium toast French oak cubes to one carboy and leave the other unoaked.

I welcome opinions on this.


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## heatherd (Oct 16, 2020)

winemaker81 said:


> I made an impulse purchase of 7 gallons of Lanza Sauvignon Blanc juice, which is currently nearing the end of fermentation. It will be bulk aged in a pair of 3 gallon glass carboys.
> 
> Oak or not oak? I'm debating if I want to oak the wine, and if so, what oak to use.
> 
> ...


I typically don't oak Sauvignon Blanc.


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## Boatboy24 (Oct 16, 2020)

It's not typically oaked (although, isn't a Fume Blanc just a Sauv Blanc that has oak in it?). 1oz is a pretty small amount and may be just enough to make a difference, but not be perceived necessarily as an oak addition. I might be tempted to try your split approach, were it my wine.


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## AaronSC (Oct 16, 2020)

Wouldn


winemaker81 said:


> I made an impulse purchase of 7 gallons of Lanza Sauvignon Blanc juice, which is currently nearing the end of fermentation. It will be bulk aged in a pair of 3 gallon glass carboys.
> 
> Oak or not oak? I'm debating if I want to oak the wine, and if so, what oak to use.
> 
> ...


Does't this simply depend on whether or not you like oak taste in SB? I personally hate it but you may like it. When it comes to things like oak my philosophy is don't add it unless you have a good reason, because you can't take it back


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## winemaker81 (Oct 16, 2020)

Boatboy24 said:


> 1oz is a pretty small amount and may be just enough to make a difference, but not be perceived necessarily as an oak addition.


The recommendation is 2 oz cubes in a 5 gallon carboy, so 1 oz in a 3 gallon is just a bit less. If it's not enough, I can add more.

Robert Mondavi created "Fume Blanc" to avoid negative connotations with Sauvignon Blanc at the time. He oaked it to make it distinctive, but I've read that not all Fume is oaked.

I haven't had an oaked SB in years, maybe more than a decade. No reason for it, just didn't buy any. So ... it appears I need to purchase a few examples of both and taste test. Not that I'm feeling unhappy about that ....

My curiosity regarding what others do spurred this post. I don't have to make a decision for a while, so I'm mulling things over ... leaning strongly towards a carboy of each.

If this works out well, I'll plan to buy again next year.


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## winemaker81 (Oct 18, 2020)

Fermentation ended (SG 0.998) so it's racking time. I added 4 tsp bentonite dissolved in 2 cups hot water, and moved the wine into a 25 liter demijohn. The final intention is to move to a pair of 3 gallon carboys, but for clearing it's easier to use the demijohn. If I leave it in the demijohn I'll need to top it with half a bottle of commercial.

Note: The recommendation for bentonite is 1 to 2 Tbsp per gallon -- I added 4 tsp for ~6.5 gallons. The clearing you see if after 15 minutes in the demijohn.

This makes me question if the recommended amount of bentonite is really necessary? Possibly it's for protein and tannin removal, but not clearing. Since my interest is clearing, this works for me.




EDIT: The solid layer of foam reduced yesterday and dropped to almost nothing this morning. That, coupled with the SG, indicated fermentation was either done or _really_ close. The SG reading was not 100% accurate -- given the situation I didn't degas the wine before taking the reading. I want the original and final SG to be accurate -- everything in between is more-or-less a barometer. Given how fast the wine is clearing indicates my guesstimate was correct.


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## winemaker81 (Oct 18, 2020)

BTW, the owner of my local shop recommended Lalvin QA23, so I took his advice. The lees compacted VERY tightly, which meant I got very little sediment when racking. I don't fuss much about sediment at the first racking as it's going to drop out anyway, but the compactness in this situation is nice.


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## winemaker81 (Oct 25, 2020)

I racked yesterday, moving the wine into a pair of 3 gallon carboys. It would take an additional 2 bottles to fill the demijohn, so I had to move it.

At this point the oak/no-oak is up in the air. We are going to buy a couple of bottles each of oaked & unoaked Sauvignon Blanc and taste test.


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## AaronSC (Oct 25, 2020)

The only place that I've ever seen "oaked" SB is California, and it's less common than it used to be. Anything from New Zealand or France will not be oaky, so that's a safe bet, but won't taste much like California SB, which is less intense than either.

If I remember correctly, things labelled "fumé blanc" are generally oaked. I get the impression that winemakers in CA add oak to SB when it doesn't have much else going on. It's easy to over-oak a white wine, so some of the examples I've encountered have been pretty oaky. None of them did I like -I feel like oak and SB don't go well together, but of course it's all a matter of what you like! I'm someone who can't comprehend why people grow chardonnay in California, and even less why people drink it, so I'm clearly an outlier


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## winemaker81 (Oct 25, 2020)

@AaronSC, I thought Fume Blanc was oaked as well. According to *this article* in Forbes, Mondavi didn't originally oak his Fume Blanc. I remember Fume as being oaked, that was late 80's - mid 90's, which appears to fit the article's mention that he didn't oak it for 2 decades.

IMO SB can be oaked, but it need to be lightly done, and it needs to be the right ones. I like New Zealand SB, but the big grassy flavor would be hurt (IMO) by oak.


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## Fingaluna (Oct 26, 2020)

If you can get good Light Toast American Oak, I'd go for it. The coconut hints from the Light Toast could be wonderful in a SB.
I Oaked 12L of Magnotta (winery/juice supplier in Toronto) Sauvignon Blanc: Used 15g of Nevers Oak chips. Not enough - I should have done 30g.
The downside is that some of the fruit notes would be subdued by the oak. Maybe a tough choice.


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## winemaker81 (Oct 26, 2020)

Fingaluna said:


> If you can get good Light Toast American Oak, I'd go for it.


Interesting, I would not have thought of going with a light toast, but it makes sense. As I mentioned above, I'm thinking 1 oz / 30 g. Let it age a month and taste. Repeat until it's "good".


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## Juniper Hill (Oct 26, 2020)

Sounds like a fun experiment. Will be interesting to compare the two versions once they are ready to bottle.


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## winemaker81 (Oct 26, 2020)

I'm into experimentation. My original plan was to produce a 1st run and 2nd run Bordeaux blend using 50% Merlot, 25% Zinfandel, and 25% Vinifera Blend (Cab Sav, Cab Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot). Ferment in 4 batches and blended post-fermentation. Really simple, right?

I REALLY complicated things as I'm ensuring I have at least a gallon of each varietal to use for later comparison. Plus my current barrel is 2/3 Merlot, 1/3 Vinifera blend, and the second barrel (which I purchase next week) will have 40% Merlot, 40% Zinfandel, 20% Vinifera blend.

The 3 carboys of 2nd run will have different oaks -- American, French, & Hungarian. I'm testing *Next Level Oak's* winestix and providing Mike (owner) with my unvarnished results.

Yeah, I'm my own worst enemy with regard to complicating things through experimentation.

Besides all of the above, the Sauvignon Blanc was not on the agenda until a guy backed out on the barrel purchase. The decision to purchase was made the night before the grapes arrived.


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## winemaker81 (Dec 10, 2020)

I tasted the Sauvignon Blanc last night and am leaning towards no oak. It's good, as-is, and I am not confident that oak will improve it.

I keep in mind something I was told some years back: The enemy of "good" is not "bad"; the enemy is "better".


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## CDrew (Dec 10, 2020)

winemaker81 said:


> I tasted the Sauvignon Blanc last night and am leaning towards no oak. It's good, as-is, and I am not confident that oak will improve it.
> 
> I keep in mind something I was told some years back: The enemy of "good" is not "bad"; the enemy is "better".



I've heard it "Never let great get in the way of the good."

As someone with 20 gallons of maturing Sauvignon Blanc, my vote is definitely no oak. Even at a month old it tastes fantastic and I can't see an improvement with oak. But then I'm kind of oak leary too due to a difficult experience in 2018!

I could see an experiment if you had 25 gallons and wanted to oak 5 that's reasonable. But the risk of ruining half your vintage is too much.

ANd over the years, I've had a bunch of the Mondavi Fume Blanc. Never detected oak and thought it was basically a marketing scheme that succeeded. And I still like it today. I just think there are others that are better in the same price range.


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## winemaker81 (Dec 10, 2020)

CDrew said:


> I could see an experiment if you had 25 gallons and wanted to oak 5 that's reasonable. But the risk of ruining half your vintage is too much.


Yup. We have 6 gallons, and this is split with my son, so I get 15 bottles. If this turns out like I expect, I'm going to purchase 12 gallons of juice next year so I get 2 carboys out of it.


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## sour_grapes (Dec 10, 2020)

I am sure the saying goes back yet farther, but the canonical phrasing is:

“The enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan.” 
― Prussian General Karl von Clausewitz, Vom Kriege, 1832


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## Booty Juice (Dec 10, 2020)

Oak is interesting.

A barrel broker around here says he owes his kids college funds to Robert Parker and laments the current trend of less oak, including in SB’s & chards.

In the wine business, there is romance and then there is reality. Wineries need to show off their new barrels to visitors, but clobbering everything with new oak is unnecessary and wasteful. The micro ox & flavoring purpose of new barrels can be achieved with neutral barrels and staves, chips, bags or liquid. No need to buy a $1,000 barrel as a flavoring agent. Neutral barrels around here are basically free.


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## winemaker81 (Dec 17, 2020)

Booty Juice said:


> Neutral barrels around here are basically free.


I paid $40 USD each for used 54 liter barrels. I was looking at $250 to $300 for new barrels, in which I'd not be able to keep a wine for long. With these? Oak cubes + 1 year works well, bottling when new wine is ready to go in.


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## balatonwine (Dec 17, 2020)

Booty Juice said:


> In the wine business, there is romance and then there is reality.



How true.

But, being a rebel, I have considered putting out a sign with a really tiny box on it that says:

_*"Before entering, leave your pretentiousness in this box. You can pick it up when you leave. If it will not fit, then this wine cellar may not be for you." ***

*** *_provided under the creative commons attribution license... You can use it in your own signs.....


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