WHY OAK ?
A century old tradition remains a standard practice for making many fines wines. The oak allows slow movement of oxygen allowing a very slow maturation and development of the wine within. The oak also contributes particular tannins and flavours which interact with the wine producing more complex characters.

WHERE DOES OAK COME FROM?
Largely, oak trees used for wine barrels are grown in France or the USA and only a selected species – white oak – is suitable for barrels. The timber must meet 2 basis criteria:
* the timber must not be porous
* the flavours that the timber imparts must taste good ~ Jarrah is not porous but unlike oak it tastes lousy!
Helen’s Hill uses only French oak in its wine making process as it has tighter grains than American oak and its flavours are more subtle and elegant, imparting savoury, spicy and sometimes citrus characters.
COOPERAGE
This is the time honoured craft of making barrels and the craftsman is known as the cooper.
Like the viticulturist and the winemaker the cooper’s handling of the oak will impact on the wines end result.
As you look into the barrel hall you will note the different cooperages represented – our winemaker chooses particular cooper for a particular wine style.
TOAST LEVEL
“Toasting” is a process of darkening the inside of the barrel with an open flame. The winemaker will select a level of toasting – light, medium or heavy – to produce a certain style of wine.
SIZE
Barriques are the barrels used for wine production here at Helen’s Hill.
These can then be further distinguished as :
Burgundy (228 litre and “fatter) or
Bordeaux (225 litre and “longer and thinner”)
The burgundy barrel is designed to allow the lees to settle to the bottom of the barrel during the wine making process.
These 2 barrels are the most common sizes in our barrel hall and will be chosen by the winemaker depending on the style of wine and level of oak flavours and tannins to be imparted into the developing wine.
The smaller the barrel the greater the oak influence on the wine.
70% of the oak influence is imparted into the wine in the first year of a barrels use. By the 3rd year most barrels are no longer useful in white wine production but may be used for a further 2 years in red wine production and storage.