I rarely get asked about the relative merits of aging red wine in barrels versus in tanks by anyone in the wine industry itself. The assumption is that barrels are the perfect aging vessel, and the best result an alternate container can achieve is to approach this acme close enough that the consumer doesn’t notice that the wine was not aged in barrels. But even if barrels are, indeed, the best container for aging red wines, how much of this is a chicken-and-egg phenomenon? Our entire co...