French Oak

Decotec was inspired by French oak and the way in which oenologists use it as a “school” for their wines. Following the traditional method, they age their wines in oak barrels and the wood “educates” the wine, giving it form and structure. French oak is the source of our inspiration, for which we owe a debt of gratitude to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, advisor to the Sun King, Louis 14th of France, who ordered the planting of large oak forests for the construction of ships. However, Colbert did not realize that oak grows very slowly, taking centuries to mature. So it is the descendants of those ancient trees which today give wine its characteristic flavour, the flavour that oak brings to wine: the flavour of identity.