The cutting of oak and its influence on wine

By the cross - section of an oak trunk we have tried to reconstruct the concepts of split and sawn oak.

H represents a cut and A a sawn section. As can be easily seen, by cutting the oak stave is longitudinally structured over the pith rays which are of perfectly impermeable wood. The cut surface is uneven but the wine scarcely penetrates the wood; so the transfer of tannin and washing are also reduced to a minimum.

Sawn oak, on the contrary, presents an apparently smooth surface but it has in fact a bristly outer area. It is very easily soaked and, having no impermeable longitudinal wall, is amply penetrated by wine, giving rise to strong impregnation and transfer of tannin and consequently needing heavy washing.

There is still a logical possibility of avoiding this risk by "treating" the interior surface of the sawn wood to reduce its permeability.

Diffusion of the wine

Through its behaviour in extension and depth, the chromatic performance of a red wine in different types of cuts and areas of oak is shown:

The drawing shows the penetration of red wine in a split stave (H) and a sawn stave (A).