browns of rivonia cellar news writeup
Browns has four temperature, humidity and light controlled cellars
which house over 30 000 bottles of wine. One of our highly trained
wine stewards which will escort you on a tour of the wine cellar and
we have currently trained more than 70 waitering and management staff
in collaboration with the Cape Wine Academy. Browns also stocks an
extensive collection of French Champagne, Portuguese port, Spanish
sherry, French Cognac & Armagnac, Scottish single malt whiskey
and other International white and red wines.
"Winelist of the Year" Award of Excellence Recipient
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May 2007
Barrel News (2nd Fill)
By: Charlie Hardie (Cellar Master at Browns
of Rivonia)
For the second foray into the secrets of wooding
wine, we must explore the effect of the choice of barrel preferred
by the winemaker, i.e. whether French or American. (There are
many more examples, but for simplicity’s sake, it is easiest
to stick to these 2 because they are used the most.)
The choice of wood influence on a wine is absolutely
critical. The call will be made once the winemaker has an idea
of how robust, or light, the final wine will be. For example,
if the winemaker decides on using French Oak, the wine needs
to be sturdy as the grain on French wood is very, very tight
and will add strong, slightly bitter wood flavours to the wine.
American Oak on the other hand has a far looser grain and is
a rich flavoured wood. Wine that has been fermented or matured
in American Oak will have a very pronounced sweetish palette.
The looser grain means that air can get to the wine easier,
so wines in American oak generally need to be drunk quicker.
Call 011 803 7533 or email bookings@browns.co.za
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