Cheaper oak aged wines with laminated barrels?

A research project in Gironde (Bordeaux) has developed a barrique (225 litre barrel) made of laminated wood. The inner layer is made of oak but the outer layer is made from ash wood. At blind tastings of wine aged in the laminated barrels after six months ageing the wines from the “traditional” barrels had more oak character but the wine from the laminated barrels were preferred since the wine’s own characteristics were more evident. Similar trials have been done in Hungary and Portugal. Read more Vitisphere.com