# 80L Vadai ?



## jburtner (Oct 8, 2019)

Hi, I'm considering an 80L Vadai for a cab sav / merlot blend. Would like to bulk age for at least a year+ and wondering whether folks think this might be too much oak?

Maybe I should do a smaller barrel and cycle the wine through it over 12-18 months?

80L = 22 Gallons.

Thanks for the input,
Johann


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## FTC Wines (Oct 9, 2019)

My. 2 cents. I have 2 - 40 liter Vadai barrels and a 23 liter one. I switched from 50 liter ones because they were too heavy for me to lift and they wouldn’t fit in my laundry tub. The 40 L ones fit fine and are a lot lighter. Also 2-6 gal car boys fit into a 40L with 1.4 gallons left over. For a year of topping off you will need that gallon of top off wine. Also I ran 3 different wines thru the new 40 L barrels for 3-4 months each, none were over Oaked in my opinion. Now I’ve had a wine in each barrel for a year, still not over oaked. But have they mellowed out. Another thought, with 2 - 40 L batches, keep one Cab and one Merlot then do bench taste tests to decide the best blend for you. Hope this helps. Roy


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## chitownwine (Oct 14, 2019)

Has anyone bought a barrel from vadai recently or have talken to ruthie? Wanting to order another and their website seems to be down and her phone mailbox says full. Hoping things are alright there. R


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## jsbeckton (Oct 15, 2019)

chitownwine said:


> Has anyone bought a barrel from vadai recently or have talken to ruthie? Wanting to order another and their website seems to be down and her phone mailbox says full. Hoping things are alright there. R



I talked to her about 4 times over the last 3 weeks trying to get a shipping quote. She takes down my information and says she will call me back each time but never has. 

She seems very nice but I think she may be having trouble managing things and not sure she has the help she needs.


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## Bill McNab (Feb 9, 2020)

I agree with jsbeckton


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## mainshipfred (Feb 9, 2020)

jburtner said:


> Hi, I'm considering an 80L Vadai for a cab sav / merlot blend. Would like to bulk age for at least a year+ and wondering whether folks think this might be too much oak?
> 
> Maybe I should do a smaller barrel and cycle the wine through it over 12-18 months?
> 
> ...



Just my opinion but I think they will be over oaked if kept for a year. 6-8 months would probably be more like it.


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## Johnd (Feb 9, 2020)

I just pulled 2017 out of a 30 gallon French barrel, where it had sat for 25 months. It’s oaky, but not too much IMHO. Just more food for thought.....


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## mainshipfred (Feb 9, 2020)

Johnd said:


> I just pulled 2017 out of a 30 gallon French barrel, where it had sat for 25 months. It’s oaky, but not too much IMHO. Just more food for thought.....



Doesn't that just kill the week/gallon theory for a new barrel out of the water. LOL! Perhaps it's a logarithmic rather then a linear equation.


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## Johnd (Feb 9, 2020)

mainshipfred said:


> Doesn't that just kill the week/gallon theory for a new barrel out of the water. LOL! Perhaps it's a logarithmic rather then a linear equation.



I know, I hated to post it, though it’s a real life scenario. Perhaps the French oak is just more mild than Hungarian, and this was a pretty big wine, being a combo of Cab, Merlot, and Petite Sirah, and I do love oak in my wines. I think that the week/ gallon theory gets a little out of sorts when we get to the larger barrels, 60 weeks in a full sized French oak barrel is just over a year, and commercial wines frequently exceed that. I’m still new to the big barrel game....


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## mainshipfred (Feb 9, 2020)

Johnd said:


> I know, I hated to post it, though it’s a real life scenario. Perhaps the French oak is just more mild than Hungarian, and this was a pretty big wine, being a combo of Cab, Merlot, and Petite Sirah, and I do love oak in my wines. I think that the week/ gallon theory gets a little out of sorts when we get to the larger barrels, 60 weeks in a full sized French oak barrel is just over a year, and commercial wines frequently exceed that. I’m still new to the big barrel game....



A real life scenario is for better then a theory, I'm glad you posted it. It's making me believe the original theory was based on 23 liter barrels.


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## ibglowin (Feb 9, 2020)

IMHO that only worked for the 23L Vadai's. The volume to surface area ratio on those is much higher than the larger barrels.



mainshipfred said:


> Doesn't that just kill the week/gallon theory for a new barrel out of the water. LOL! Perhaps it's a logarithmic rather then a linear equation.


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## mainshipfred (Feb 9, 2020)

ibglowin said:


> IMHO that only worked for the 23L Vadai's. The volume to surface area ratio on those is much higher than the larger barrels.



We were typing at the same time and as they say "great minds think alike"


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