Peepz,
I was chatting with my brother the other day. He's as crazy about wine as I am about beer, and at some point, I asked his advice about which particular Pinot Noir wine I should be soaking my oak cubes in for a sour beer I'm brewing.
He was fascinated by the idea that I'd want to flavour oak with wine instead of "the normal way" which means flavouring maturing wine with oak.
As far as he was concerned, almost all the flavour I'd be getting from soaked cubes (and i'm not talking spirits here, just wine) would be oak and tannins, with hardly any actual wine coming through. He also voiced his concern that what little wine I'd be getting would actually be oxydised, and that in this light, it wouldn't matter much wether I'd be using a quality Pinot Noir, or a low-budget WhateverGrapeTheyHave.
His take then, is that I'd be better off just using "naked" cubes, and use the wine for blending (preferrable whilst bottling). This would leave most room for the wine to actually make a difference.
Any thoughts on this from y'all?