Rival oak bottle enters wine market

A wooden bottle that aims to replicate the effects of oak ageing has entered the market to rival the Pinocchio Barrique Bottle, launched on Kickstarter in January.

The brainchild of 30-year-old Canadian entrepreneur Joel Paglione, Oak Bottle is allegedly able to age entry-level wines in a day.

Made from sustainably sourced American oak, the £50 bottle can also be used to enhance the flavours of Bourbon, Tequila, brandy, vodka and gin.

Users simply need to pour their chosen beverage into the bottle and wait for one to two days depending on the intensity of the oak flavour they desire.

Chicago-based Paglione spent three years developing the gadget, which he claims is the world’s smallest and fastest way to infuse drinks with oak.

Eight other versions flavoured with the likes of cherry, vanilla, maple and coffee are also available via oakbottle.com.

Paglione, whose parents run a winery in Canada told the Daily Mail: “It’s all about the perfect amount of interaction with oxygen available for the liquid to breathe through the wood, and the perfect mount of oak contact of the liquid inside.

“We’re not saying that Oak Bottle will turn a boxed wine into a £50 bottle, but it can make an average wine much less insulting to your taste buds,” he added.

The most popular wines for oak ageing are currently Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

Paglione claims that in two days an unoaked Chardonnay will taste like “an expensive oaked Chardonnay that has been aged in oak for years”.

This is not the first wooden wine bottle of its kind to be designed. In January db reported that a bottle called the Pinocchio Barrique had been launched on crowdfunding website Kickstarter.

Made from European oak, the bottle is designed for any drink with an abv of at least 12%, from wine and whisky to grappa, and promises to enhance its flavour.

However, the Pinocchio Barrique Bottle takes 10 days to replicate the effects of six months in an oak, while the Oak Bottle allegedly takes just two.