THE BREATH OF SPIRITS

If on the one hand oxygen is a source of life, just think of the air we breathe or the fire that heats and illuminates and can burn thanks to oxygen, on the other it consumes, ages, crumbles, decomposes, oxidizes. It is certainly the element of instability and the passage of time, but we cannot say that all aging is deplorable. Distillates are very long-lived and have an excellent relationship with oxygen as long as everything happens in the right conditions. When we talk about aging in reference to distillates we are immediately led to think of barrels, but the rest in other containers, such as terracotta, glass, steel, is also a form of aging, which occurs precisely thanks to the presence of oxygen in the tanks or also thanks to the exchange with the outside in the case, for example, of materials such as terracotta which show a slight permeability.

Let's see what happens in more detail: the oxidation reactions that occur in the presence of oxygen determine the formation of new acids that can be formed starting from the aldehydes already present in spirits. The acids then react with the alcohols to form esters, new aromatic molecules that contribute to developing complexity in the distillate. Added to these reactions with long kinetics is the contribution of the chosen material, which allows the distillate to interact to varying degrees with the external and internal environment.

The maximum interaction certainly occurs with wood. The distillate, through capillary forces, tries to exit the barrel by penetrating deeply into the pores of the wood, the oxygen-distillate encounter takes place in these channels in which the spirit is finely divided into particles, thus resulting in an increase in the contact surface distillate/oxygen with optimization of aging kinetics. The wood also gives polyphenolic compounds (tannins) to the distillate, in particular oak, one of the most used woods, contains quercetin, which is the coloring substance contained in oak wood and dyes the distillate dark orange.

Tannic acid, on the other hand, is a slightly yellowish, bitter and astringent powder and must be eliminated at least in part from new barrels by repeated rinsing so as not to affect the balance of the distillate. The woods chosen will influence the quantity of tannins released and, based on the toasting, will give a different aroma to the distillate. The dimensions of the barrel must then be considered, the alcohol content at which the distillate is inserted (which modifies the extraction balance), the cellar environment with its climatic variables of temperature, humidity and pressure, and many other factors, all harmonized by the presence of oxygen and the action of time.

This brief mention is sufficient to highlight the infinite possibilities of aging where the price to pay is always a drop in yield, but the portion of distillate that evaporates in the cellar environment makes the fraction that remains a true nectar of great complexity for which it is worth waiting even for years as long as you have carefully chosen what to put in wood.