News & Press
Mar 17, 2023
Oak & Sustainability
At O’Neill, we talk a lot about sustainable grape growing but barrel-fermented Chardonnay relies on two crops – grapes and oak – and the sustainability of the latter is just as important.
Oak trees are selectively harvested at 80 or older – often decades older. Choosing suitable trees ensures the correct balance of light and water for those remaining. If too little light penetrates the canopy, the oaks can’t grow tall and straight; if too much enters, other species will out-compete the oaks and crowd them.
The harvested trees are split into staves, which are stacked and “seasoned” outdoors for several years before being coopered. This painstakingly slow process requires careful management; unlike cork trees, which are harvested for bark every nine to ten years, the oak harvest cuts down the entire tree. Careless or excessive harvesting would have a harmful, decades-long impact.
Like most California wineries, we source oak from the United States and France. Forests cover 25% of France’s surface, so forest management is closely tied to the country’s overall environmental well-being. Many of the trees are Quercus petraea and Quercus robur, the European oak species prized for barrels.
North America is swimming in a diversity of oak species, but it’s the American white oak, Quercus alba, that is used for barrels. In recent years, concerns have arisen over the stability of these white oak forests, which are primarily in Missouri and other eastern states. Their barrels are used not only for wine but also spirits; new, heavily charred American barrels are a requirement for bourbon production, which has increased dramatically over the last twenty years. Leading bourbon producers have teamed up with cooperages and other stakeholders on sustainability programs to preserve oak ecosystems and ensure sensible long-term forest management.
O’Neill’s primary barrel supplier — World Cooperage — works exclusively with sustainably certified forests and mills; its domestically-made American barrels are produced to the standards of the highly regarded Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Additionally, 100% of the timber is used; the portion unsuited for barrel staves is directed into winemaking aids such as tank staves and chips, used internally as fuel or sold as other industrial products. There is zero waste per tree.
Sustainably managed oak forests are crucial to maintaining the rich style and consistently high quality of Harken Chardonnay. We’re proud to have partners who share our commitment to borrowing from nature rather than exploiting it.
- Kryss Speegle MW, Senior Director of Business-to-Business