Naturally, this process is logically, but one can’t say for sure, if improving the quality of the wine played a key role in this process. Wooden barrels are easier to produce and to clean. There is also no danger, that they fracture during transportation or get damaged due to an earth quake and therefore the wine gets lost. It is also easier to discover little leaks and pretty straightforward to repair them.
The increasing importance of using wooden barrels in terms of the quality of the wine is not that easy to explain. The opinion, that oxidized wine from immemorial times neither had a smell nor a taste, can’t possibly be true. Only a neutral grape variety would have been selected. But if people already back then chose the grapes according to their fine scent, than it would have been possible for them to maintain this feature.