that they believe they can seriously tell what kind of wood their fermented grape juice was casked in
I have no idea about wine specifically, but I feel like this should be entirely possible. I see it all the time in tea. An experienced tea snob can absolutely tell you what region of China a tea came from, what kind of soil it was grown in, sometimes what cultivar of tea plant, definitely every step used to prepare it after being picked, and most certainly how it was stored. And those are dried leaves, I feel like it should actually be pretty easy to tell what type of wood a liquid has been stored in.
Wine is almost exclusively fermented in American or french oak or stainless steel. Telling the difference between the steel and wood is super easy, the difference between french and american oak is incredibly small. Some wine is also made in steel but has oak chips added to it because it makes such a difference.
I have no idea about wine specifically, but I feel like this should be entirely possible. I see it all the time in tea. An experienced tea snob can absolutely tell you what region of China a tea came from, what kind of soil it was grown in, sometimes what cultivar of tea plant, definitely every step used to prepare it after being picked, and most certainly how it was stored. And those are dried leaves, I feel like it should actually be pretty easy to tell what type of wood a liquid has been stored in.
Wine is almost exclusively fermented in American or french oak or stainless steel. Telling the difference between the steel and wood is super easy, the difference between french and american oak is incredibly small. Some wine is also made in steel but has oak chips added to it because it makes such a difference.