See also Brix scale and must weight . The technique of storing wine in wooden barrels for a period after fermentation and before bottling. Barrel-ageing imparts some of the character of the wood into the wine, adding flavour and important tannins and deepening the colour. Good quality barrels are so expensive, however, that their use is limited to the making of finer wines. Though chestnut, pine, eucalyptus and others have been used, oak is the most widely used wood for wine barrels.
Barrels are usually heat-treated, or toasted , on the inside before use.
See also barrel fermented . Because fermentation draws certain chemicals from the wood, wines made in this way are likely to have much more complex flavours than wines that have experienced only barrel ageing or have spent no time at all in wood. Outside France the word is often used for any kind of wooden barrel. See also Brix scale and must weight . Individual grapes are harvested very late in the season at their perfect level of ripeness and the resulting wine is rich and deep gold in colour.