There are so many different vessels you can store and age wine in. Winemakers can use stainless-steel tanks or barrels of various sizes made from different types of wood. Then there are the originals, the amphora, concrete tanks both lined and not. Each of these vessels impacts the way the wine ages and the personality of the wine in different ways.
The degree of oxidation, and, rate the wine matures/develops at will vary with the porosity and size of the vessel. The more porous and smaller the vessel the faster it will develop. The less porous and larger the vessel the slower it will develop.
The vessel can also impact aroma, flavour, and, texture. New oak of small volume, barriques, will impart a lot more oak into the wine the larger new oak. On the other hand a stainless-steel tank will be relatively neutral, yet still, allow the wine to harmonise. You can read more about oak in the post Q&A with Paul: “How does the percentage of new oak affect wine?”.
Pre-bottling maturation is an integral part of making wine, it takes the wine through puberty into early adulthood, takes the raw edges off, harmonises the wine, and, helps it become more expressive.
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