Ruby Port Finishes - Just a Myth?

ben_2 · March 4 2015 at 10:35AM

Ok here is a question I found myself in and could not answer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_wine

Ruby Port is matured in stainless steel tanks to prevent it from oxidative maturation. This remains the wine fruity and fresh. This fruity, fresh aromas with berries are reflected in the whisky finished by Ruby port casks.

And here comes the question:
What casks? They are matured in Steel tanks, remember?

SanctTom · March 4 2015 at 8:12PM

You just have to put Ruby Port in a cask for a non-defined time (you don't have to age it or use it afterwards). After you give the wood some time to absorb some port or at least some color (probably using fresh casks to better effect), get rid of the port and put whisky in the cask - and after an (again unspecified) time you have a Ruby-Port-finished (or A.C.E.d or whatever) whisky - with increased value (if not necessarily increades taste)... :evil:
There is absolutely no rule that the port has to be originally matured in the cask. :rolleyes:

ben_2 · March 5 2015 at 7:31AM

Good point.

toddstevens4 · September 6 2016 at 11:02PM

So a producer can partially fill a Cask with anything they want, rotate it a few times, and then declare that the particular Cask is a Cask associated with the undefined amount of liquid inside? Wow. Robert Mondavi winery (in the US at least) had a Cab Sauv that was "finished" in bourbon casks, do you think some malt Distillery picked them up afterwards?
Slainte
Todd Stevens