English oak wine barrels - useless items

I did a tour of the Denbies Vinyard near Dorking in surrey today. And I learnt a few things - most particularly that English oak is no good for ageing wine. It grows too slowly so the grain is too tight to let the wine breathe. These barrels were ordered by the owner before he knew that - but they look good in wedding photos! Denbies uses French oak barrels.