Wine Making is an art. The preserving process of wine makes all the difference to the flavor. The process of storing is gradually changing to stainless steel barrels from the age-old traditional oak barrels. Steel barrels have better longevity and are less expensive to maintain.
Before getting yourself a classic bottle of wine, you might have never given a thought as to how much time or years that bottle of wine might have taken to come to your table or bar. Wine making is a long and delicate process, an art, in fact.
The entire process of making wine correctly, from choosing the grapes to storing the new wine for aging, is a delicate process and requires a lot of care and attention. A slight deviation in the proportion of ingredients, or less or more exposure to air, may render the wine tasteless. An important part of the wine-making process is the aging of the wine. Aging can make all the difference to the taste of the wine. Some of the finest wines in the world are the oldest and the best stored ones.
Good wine barrels and stainless steel drums are crucial for winemakers, as the quality of the equipment has a key role to play in turning out an excellent wine, as wine is a natural and perishable product. For large-scale production, good wine barrels are needed, as well as properly constructed wine cellars. There are many wine barrel makers who provide all types of barrels that are required for winemaking, like oak barrels and stainless steel drums. Often, these companies also produce other types of drums such as stainless steel nitric drums, overpack drums, seamless stainless steel drums and salvage drums.
Traditionally, wine was stored in oak barrels which imparted a special oakiness to the wine that is greatly appreciated by wine lovers all over the world. Though the oak flavor is still preferred in wine, stainless steel has become a welcome change from oak barrels as the new medium for storing wine.
Stainless steel wine barrels are a smart choice for all stages of wine storage as their special designs are high on integrity, have better longevity, are less expensive to maintain and have pure materials. Stainless steel wine barrels can be used for years at a stretch. Oak barrels, on the other hand, face the problem of a short life span, as the inherently acidic wine corrodes the wooden barrel. As steel barrels are neutral, the flavor of the wine is not affected. Moreover, any desirable flavor can be imparted to the wine. For instance, for the classic oak flavor, oak can be added in the form of chips, planks or powder. Steel barrels are also used for experimental batches of wine, which requires a neutral storage container in order to see the impact of the experimentation on the wine.
Unlike wooden barrels, stainless steel barrels are easier to clean and do not absorb the flavor of its contents as stainless steel wine barrels do not share the porous characteristic of wood barrels. Wine requires a controlled exposure to air, as the taste of the wine has to be preserved. Exposure to air leads to the deterioration in the quality of wine. Stainless steel barrels are the best, because the air exposure can be controlled as required to make the perfect barrel of wine. Hence, it is not surprising that more and more wineries are switching to stainless steel wine barrels because of their stable chemical and physical properties.
The author of this article Howard Skolnik and is associated with Skolnik, a leading manufacturer of stainless steel wine barrels, overpack drums and a range of other industrialized containers.
