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It is fermented in concrete vats and aged a year in Slavonian oak, followed by another year of aging in the bottle.

He ages the wine in foudres, big old barrels of French and Slavonian oak.

While the COS was fermented and aged in concrete, the Occhipinti was moved after fermentation to big barrels of Slavonian oak, just one of several variables that collectively account for differences in the wines.

The Slavonian oak allows minute amounts of oxygen to interact with the wine, giving it the structure and stability to age for many years.

Oakiness was a particular problem in the Piedmont in the 1980s and ′90s, when many younger producers began to age their wines in small barrels of new French oak rather than in the traditional big vats, made of Slavonian oak, which were used year after year.