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John Nugent and his wife are the proprietors of Colorado Wine Company in Eagle Rock (2114 Colorado Boulevard). He stops by from time to time to give la.foodblogging readers a taste of the wine business, from the inside. This is not an advertisement and no promotional fee or arrangement has been made between Colorado Wine Co. and la.foodblogging

France is not having such a great 2006 thus far. First, riots over the new youth job laws and now, worst of all, the government is going to allow oak wood chips in the making of wine in addition to the traditional barrel method!! If you read most of the reactions in France, you would think the subject was Armageddon. Their “reign is over” and “all wine will be made like McDonald’s food” according to many, but really, will it? Will everyone trash their very expensive French Oak barrels and just toss a handful of oak chips into all the $300+ bottles of Bordeaux? Not likely. Let me back up a second…

The use of oak chips to give wine an oaky flavour originated in Australia (where most modern, revolutionary winemaking techniques have originated), where winemakers tend to take a very pragmatic attitude towards their craft. Throwing oak chips into the wine is a shortcut to soften and stabilize the tannins and generally make the wine drinkable at an earlier age. This process saves a lot of money for the winery and is a sin to many oenophiles. It shouldn’t be used for all wines but it could even the playing field for the thousands of French winemakers who feel hamstrung by the strict government controls on current winemaking methods. Up until last week, only wines at the Vin de Pays level and lower could use chips in the making of wine.

If suddenly all the French bargain wines in a couple years taste like you’re sucking on a Louisville Slugger, we know the paranoia was well-founded. Otherwise, wouldn’t be nice to find a few more deals from the golden land of wine? We’ll see..

French oak barrels picture by CottonCandy