Beyond the barrel: Rethinking the approach to oak in the Médoc

The retreat from noticeable oak extraction in Bordeaux wine has been most often associated with St-Émilion.

But subtler shifts in barrel ageing have also been taking place across Bordeaux’s Left Bank.

The trend extends well beyond any three properties, but recent visits this year to Château Lascombes in Margaux, Château Gruaud Larose in St-Julien and Château d’Armailhac in Pauillac reveal three different approaches to recalibrating new oak, showing why percentages tell only part of the story.

Bordeaux’s changing relationship with oak is easiest to recognise in St-Emilion, where the combination of ultra ripe Merlot with elevated alcohol, pronounced extraction and generous new oak became associated with the style of many estates starting at the beginning of this century.

It reached a woody apotheosis between 2005 and 2016, before the pendulum began to swing decisively towards freshness and less overt oak from 2018.

Known for his many years at Petrus, Jean-Claude Berrouet has long observed that the higher the alcohol in the wine, the greater its capacity to extract tannin from new oak during élevage; which is one reason why oak could become particularly conspicuous in very ripe styles.

But oaky changes in the Médoc have been far more subtle.

As opposed to the more evident change in St-Emilion, the Médoc starts from a different equation: oak evolution is less a story of reducing new oak than of managing it differently.

Château Lascombes: Turning down the volume

At Château Lascombes, change is recent and deliberate. The Lawrence family acquired the Margaux second growth in 2022 and entrusted Axel Heinz (Ornellaia’s director of 17 years), with reshaping the estate’s direction.

‘When I came, we asked ourselves whether Lascombes is indeed a second growth,’ Heinz told me over lunch at the château this past July.

His answer begins in the vineyard. Lascombes today extends far beyond the estate that earned its place in the 1855 Classification.

Its historic terroirs include Les Régies, Les Doumens, Curton and Terrefort, around some of Margaux’s higher gravel elevations.

The modern vineyard is much larger and unusually diverse, encompassing clay and sandy gravels as well as gravel over calcareous marl and clay-limestone soils.

Heinz’s task has been partly to identify the parcels capable of providing what he calls the ‘spinal column’ of the grand vin.

He estimates that roughly 50 hectares currently correspond to the style and quality he seeks, which is less than half the estate’s 120 hectares under vine.

That sharper selection has been accompanied by changes in the cellar. Extraction has become gentler and shorter, pre-fermentation maceration abandoned and fermentation temperatures lowered, with vatting generally limited to no more than three weeks.

Picking times and winemaking increasingly favour freshness and balance.

Oak is part of the same rethink. Lascombes has moved away from the historically high proportions of new oak that even reached 100% in vintages such as 2005.

That reduction had already begun before Heinz’s arrival, and was down to 60% for the 2025.

But Heinz is also changing the barrels themselves, favouring mostly fine-grained wood, medium toasts and a revised selection of coopers and oak origins.

‘We want to avoid heavily toasted barrels that cover the fruit and “coat” the wine with sweetness,’ says Heinz.

The changes in vinification and élevage are interdependent. As Heinz puts it, a different approach in the vat requires ‘a new balance in the use of oak’, with the estate still learning which barrels best integrate with the changing profile of the wine.

His ideal comes from the late Bordeaux oenologist Denis Dubourdieu who often said: ‘When tasting a wine aged in oak barrels, one should identify it as being aged in oak, but without noticing the oak itself.’

The contrast was apparent over lunch. The 2009, aged in 90% new oak, was enjoyable but still noticeably marked by the oak-driven style I had long associated with Lascombes. I preferred the much younger 2023.

For those (me included) who have associated Lascombes with excessive oakiness, the change is not simply about how much new oak is used, but how loudly it speaks.

Château Gruaud Larose: Looking beyond new oak percentages

If Lascombes illustrates a deliberate move towards reducing the oak imprint, Château Gruaud Larose proves how the percentage of new barrels is blatantly misleading, even contradictory.

A recent vertical at the estate this past summer provided a clear demonstration. The 2014, raised in around 40% new oak, was fresh and juicy and floral albeit a bit light on its feet.

In 2015, the proportion doubled to 80%, and the difference was regrettably obvious. Nearly a decade later, I still found the wine’s impressive depth and length muddled by conspicuously toasty oak.

The 2016, again aged in 80% new oak, showed a similar imprint, albeit with that vintage’s greater freshness and balance.

The arrival of technical director Virginie Sallette in 2017 marked an important change. The proportion of new oak did not fall, however, staying at 80% and then rising.

What changed was the type of oak and its use, including a different selection and combination of coopers. For Sallette, the percentage matters less than the type of barrel and how it interacts with the wine.

The point is especially striking with the 2020, which saw approximately 95% new oak, considerably more than either the 2015 or 2016, and yet barely perceptible when I tasted it.

Instead came graphite, depth and a creamy mid-palate, with the oak absorbed into the wine rather than hovering over it.

That evolution sits within a broader change in approach. Sallette tastes the fermenting wines twice daily and adjusts extraction accordingly, deciding whether a vat needs an air pulse, a rack-and-return or simply to be left alone.

With Cabernet Sauvignon, she argues, the objective should not be to ‘master’ it but to let it express itself. ‘The search for purity is super important in my work,’ she told me.

Gruaud Larose therefore provides a clear warning against treating new oak percentages as shorthand for oakiness.

Between 2015 and 2020, the proportion of new barrels rose from 80% to around 95%, while their sensory imprint diminished.

The transformation has been not about using less oak but rather about using it differently.

Château d’Armailhac: Refining tannins with new oak

Similarly at Château d’Armailhac, new barrels increased from around 30% from 2015 onwards to approximately 50% today.

Director Lucie Lauilhé argues – again – that the percentage only tells half the story.

Crucially, the increase accompanied an extension of élevage from 12 to 18 months. Counterintuitively, Lauilhé says the additional six months help make the oak less conspicuous.

At 12 months, ‘the wood is still present’; by 18 months, slow oxygen exchange through the barrel has helped its contribution meld into the wine.

The barrels themselves changed too. When only 30% were new, d’Armailhac could employ oak with heavier toasts to compensate for the larger proportion of used barrels.

As new oak increased, toast levels were reduced and new coopers introduced, favouring barrels that emphasise fruit and freshness rather than mocha or chocolate.

Today Lauilhé regards around 50% – occasionally approaching 55% – as the right equilibrium.

She also explains that, surprisingly, new oak can prove more useful in cooler, less concentrated years, when it can envelop less polished tannins and improve texture and balance.

Moreover, increasing levels of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend did not prompt the move towards more new oak but rather have reinforced it.

Lauilhé believes Cabernet Sauvignon particularly benefits from the combination of controlled oxygen exchange and oak tannin.

‘Cabernet Sauvignon is a little like a pony that needs training,’ she says. ‘The barrel makes it calmer and more beautiful.’

The estate’s new winery, finished in 2021, has meanwhile brought greater precision through smaller vats, finer parcel selection and vinification adapted to individual fruit profiles.

Lauilhé stresses that while this development is separate from the increase in new oak, both reflect the same search for precision.

Ultimately, oak is a means rather than an objective: ‘The barrel is a support for élevage,’ she says. ‘The aim is to make a wine that resembles the place where I am.’

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