Joel Paglione is the creator of the world’s fastest oak aging vessel, the Oak Bottle. His immersion into the winemaking culture stemmed from his Italian roots. Growing up, every fall, his family looked forward to making wine and there was stiff competition among uncles to see who can create the best bottle. Seven years ago, one of his uncles was diagnosed with cancer, which led him to build the greatest legacy. He bought a vineyard and converted it into a winery – and named it Paglione Estate Winery. His uncle had a successful construction business and decided he would put construction on hold and go into something that was a passion of his. He passed in 2015, and left a beautiful legacy. Before he passed Joel would go to the winery and would walk through it with his uncle. One day he asked his uncle why winemakers use so many small barrels. He asked, why not put the wine in bigger barrels to save time processing from the fermentation tank to all the multiple barrels? His uncle said to him the words that would change the course of his life, “What you don’t understand Joel is, the smaller the barrel, the faster the oak infusion”, said his uncle.
The Paglione Estate Winery is located in Ontario Canada and the cold weather can make growing crops a challenge. Accelerating the aging process with smaller barrels is a useful method in cold-climate wine areas like Canada where significant grape loss can occur in any given year. Some wineries use smaller oak vessels to aid in getting the wine to taste like an aged wine that’s been oak aged for years but in a shorter amount of time. Downsized barrels (about half the size of the 59-gallon barrels you might find in California) allow wine from the abundant years to be bottled sooner and put on shelves more quickly. That realization led Joel to begin developing the Chicago-based “Oak Bottle” in 2013.
Joel is passionate about making the aging process simple, fast and cost effective for everyone. His mission is to pioneer the world of custom aged wine, spirits, beer, and cocktails so that everyone can enjoy the taste of that expensive vintage or that top shelf whiskey but at a price point they can afford. “We think everyone should have access to traditional barrel aging techniques” – Joel Paglione
