QOTD: I’m not a fan Senor Oak. Had a Malbec last week that was way over-oaked. It tasted fine, the problem that is it tastes like all the other over oaked wines. Why buy different wines if they’re all going to taste the same? Down with the oak.

I had this chardonay… very heavy oak… about half oak half everything else… LOVED it… btu thats the only oak monster I ahve had… so from that… vote for… but I don’t know about the rest…

QOTD: Against the oak. Anything above subtle oak is no good for me. Agree with DaveyDoughnut, onions ruin food.

I have to give a shout out to all my CT Peeps! Im not sure if we do shouts to peeps in CT… but anyway.

The Oak Saint, circa 1908;
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b5/PostcardCharterOakHartfordCT1908.jpg

He helped save Connecticut! So… im pro… Oak Saint.

If you go to the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford CT, you can check out chairs, paintings and all kinds of nifty things made from/about Mr. Oaky.

Long Live The Oak!

I have to give a shout out to all my CT Peeps! Im not sure if we do shouts to peeps in CT… but anyway.

The Oak Saint, circa 1908;
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b5/PostcardCharterOakHartfordCT1908.jpg

He helped save Connecticut! So… im pro… Oak Saint.

If you go to the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford CT, you can check out chairs, paintings and all kinds of nifty things made from/about Mr. Oaky.

Long Live The Oak!

QOTD… Oak has a place in wine making no doubt but like you I wonder why some winemakers feel it’s flavor profile should be predominant. I could actually drink Chardonay if it weren’t oaked

Vivian! Is Purple Hippo better than Teddy Bear ear? It seems more grape-like since it is, in fact, purple, yes?

The Pedestal should not be opened until sometime after 2015! Why are you drinking it now?!

Oak is my friend. Lest we forget it is intended to help the wine age some.

OK which glass did you break mine or brandon’s?
Tell the truth…… 🙂
QOTD: I am for and against…. certain styles of wine it works other times it is too much …. it looks like this was one time it was too much……

OK which glass did you break mine or brandon’s?
Tell the truth…… 🙂
QOTD: I am for and against…. certain styles of wine it works other times it is too much …. it looks like this was one time it was too much……

QOTD: Yeah, that’s a tough one. I love being able to share wine with my wife and she is just coming around to wine, so oaking is good for her. With me, as long as the oak does not candify the wine, I like it. Vanilla and chocolate and nutmeg, etc. are good in wine. Soooooo…yes, I embrace the Oak Monster, but my Oak Monster is just a gremlin!

QOTD: since the thunder show has got me tasting the oak i find many wines too oaky and just taste the sticks and it’s not pleasurable, i wonder why i didn’t taste the equal sticks before and its so obvious that gary should build an oak cabin in the snow and invite pretty girl to slather merlot grape jelly all over his bum while they laugh and sing songs with poems and it would be fantastic with excellent sexuality?

Question of the day really hit it on the spot. The oakmonster has hunted me for years and I can’t wait till the nightmare is over!
Luckily you see less and less of it overhere, but it has mislead so many future vaniacs (I know they will be around sooner or later).
Keep on the great shows – truly love them!
R.

QOTD: Oak should be seen but not heard.

The Oak Monster has it’s place, but not in my cellar.

qotd: against

No to oak.

Nay.

Like a bit of oak influence (let’s not forget the microoxigenation that the ageing in oak barrels provides), but I’m quite scarred of a fully grown Oak monster!

Oak monster gets a no from me.

What if the oak is masking the flavor, and that’s a GOOD thing? Even though you think you can taste good flavor underneath, there’s no way of knowing, if the oak was removed, whether it would truly be an improvement… just something I was thinking about.
Vivian, you are the master!!!
QOTD: I am voting FOR the Oak Monster… because I can, and he deserves a chance. There’s plenty of room for all styles! And I appreciate when the oak is used for good.

Some people love the oak monster, some people hate him. Wine is supposed to make people happy, shouldn’t we be embracing whatever monsters exist as long as people like it?

Personally I’d say nay to over-oaked wines just because I think it’s often used as a mask more than to add complexity, but I’ve got an open mind.

QOTD: I don’t know enough about wine to say if I am Oak monster friendly or not but I look forward to become more Oak monster knowledgeable and of course opinionated about it.

Bummer on the Breaky-Break GV.

oak is good.

I wish i had started training my pal at age 5 months then i would be up there.
QOTD I would have to say im voting for the oak monster, but only in certain occasions because if like you said if covers the beauty of the fruit then its not worth it, its all about balance.

If this were a real election I would vote for the O-Monster, but with some reservation. Although obviously overpowering oaky flavor is distracting, passe, and no substitute for good winemaking, I think some decent oak/butter is nice in a lot of California chards and New World reds. Especially if you’re cooking with it, when the butteriness can add some flavors that a tighter wine just can’t match. (Experiment: try cooking sole or haddock with $50 NW Chardonnay and $12 NW Chardonnay and see which comes out better.)

That being said I also *love* dry, tight, almost austere white Burgundy- no oak at all sometimes: Mersault and Chablis and anything from neg. Louis Jadot. For me, oak has become an extension of the New World terroir so I embrace it, caveat emptor.