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OAK ALTERNATIVES started using some oak barrel alternatives about two years ago in the winery's less expensive Pinot Noir program. The winery's products range from an estate Pinot Noir for $18 to a vineyarddesignate estate Pinot Noir for $55. Bull said he prefers French and American oak spirals by The Barrel Mill. "The spiral inserts that I use in my winemaking help add not only oak seasoning with aromas of vanilla and toast and other attributes but also help with the tannin structure and mouthfeel," he said, adding he's had good results in Chardonnay as well. "Ultimately a new barrel is most preferred, but in cases where there is a tight budget I've been very happy to have this tool to play with rather than none at all." Oak dust added for fermentation has helped with wine color, but Bull said that overall the results have been inconclusive. At Robert Biale Vineyards in Napa Valley, Calif., winemaker Steve Hall said he uses 20% to 25% new oak from Burgundian coopers. He said he's not convinced that oak alternatives can match barrel aging. "It's not very likely that all the attributes of aging small lots from our favorite growers, in barrels, can be mimicked by oak alternatives," he said. Dave Crippen, director of winemaking at Renwood Winery in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, has been making wine for more than 30 years. He recalled how, about 20 years ago, the introduction of micro-oxygenation and competition to make better—yet still affordable—wines drove winemakers to use some of the earliest oak alternatives. Back then it was the odds and ends from coopers, and Crippen said folks just tossed them in the tank to bump up the oak notes on finished wines. Soon, though, suppliers saw the potential and invested in improving the alternative products. He said Renwood, which is producing about 75,000 cases, used to rely more on oak alternatives and barrel inserts as it sought to compete in the grocery aisle. But since a group of Argentinean investors purchased the winery in 2011, he's had the resources to invest back into a new barrel program. "From a personal point of view, I'm trying to make a purer style of wine," he said. The smaller oak dusts and chips often did not integrate as well into the finished wine, he said, adding that he prefers the larger block or domino alternatives and plans to experiment using them with plastic, Flexcube tanks. Crippen said overall, oak alternatives have improved and provide winemakers a means to add specific flavors to their wines. Almost ready to stop using barrels altogether Based in Nashville, Tenn., the BNA Wine Group produces several different brands of wine with fruit from California. Winemaker Tony Leonardini works out of an office in St. Helena, Calif., and his parents founded Whitehall Lane Winery, also in St. Helena. Leonardini said BNA sells a California Tony appellation Chardonnay called Butternut, Leonardini which originally had been a barrel-aged wine. He said the brand debuted with just a few hundred cases but became a hit, and sales soon were outstripping BNA's resources for barrels. "We couldn't keep up with demand doing the barrel program," he said. (Continued on page 44.) ® 707-938-1300 info@acrolon.com Win es & Vi n es A PRI L 20 13 41