We age wines in casks, amphores (or amphora if you’re a stickler for classic plurals) and concrete eggs. But we mature them in oak barrels. This might seem odd at first, since all of these share something in common: the wine is biding its time and coming into its fullness before bottling. There is a difference, however, when wine is placed in barrels of 225 to 300 litres, for the wood plays a more active role and has greater influence on the taste of the wine, and the process is called maturing, versus the more passive aging process.

Once bottled and on the winery’s shelf, or your own, the wine is simply aging. Shhhhh.