oak ageing, the process of ageing a wine in contact with oak. This typically involves barrel maturation, ageing the wine in a relatively small oak container, although the phrase may also be used for cask ageing in a larger oak container, and can even be used for wines exposed to the influence of oak chips or inner staves. Wines thus treated may be described as oak aged, oak matured, or oaked. (Oaky is a tasting term usually applied to wines too heavily influenced by oak flavour, which smell and taste more of wood than fruit, and may be aggressively tannic and dry.) See also barrel alternatives.
