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BARRELS Financing and Services. Winemakers also seem to be more interested in a lighter touch of oak for their wines. Canton is offering a new 36-month seasoned "Vintage Premium" barrel, and Remy said the cooperage is experimenting with a 60-month seasoned barrel. Barrels for higher acid wines This summer, T.W. Boswell, part of Cooperages 1912, released its "Cool Climate Series" of barrels designed to showcase the fruit of higher acidity wines. Stout said the "low-impact" barrels are a direct response to the growing popularity of that winemaking style. "The purpose of an oak barrel is never to be front and center in the bottle of wine; it's to show the fruit," Stout said. "These barrels are a little more conscious of that." Stout said American oak is in high demand but pointed out that barrels represent just 6% to 7% of the entire market for American white oak. "I don't know if I would say the spirits industry is stealing oak from the wine industry," he said. Tree harvesting is also subject to the weather, and Stout said the rainy summer endured by the Midwest interfered with logging. "This has been one of those years when climate has been a real factor in getting wood," he said. Cooperages 1912 did make a slight price increase that Stout said was in line with the Consumer Price Index. Chris Hansen, general manager of Seguin Moreau Napa Cooperage, said his prices for French and American oak rose slightly (by 2% and 1.5%, respectively) and he also said it's a bit harder to find American oak. He said he was in Missouri a few weeks ago and suppliers there said they just didn't have logs to cut. Seguin Moreau has sold out of its Icone specialty barrels for this vintage, and Hansen said he's waiting for more orders to come in as winemakers get a better sense of what their red varietal grape yields will be. "This year compared to last year we have a lot more orders in at this time," he said. Demand and prices strong for French, European Burton, owner of Barrel Builders, sells Tonnellerie Marchive barrels and vats. He said the cost of French wood went up slightly, but the price to U.S. wineries for French barrels is still most dependent on the dollar to euro exchange rate—and the dollar has weakened through the summer. In addition to French oak, Burton also sells Hungarian and American barrels. He said the price of Hungarian has stayed stable, but American oak is up between $5 and $10 per barrel. Mel Knox, San Francisco, Calif.-based representative for Taransaud, Francois Frères, Francois Frères Hungary and Kadar Cooperage said his prices went up Highlights • While prices are up slightly for new oak barrels, coopers also report wineries are ordering more barrels. • merican oak stave wood is in greater A demand, partly because of the popularity of Bourbon and craft whiskies. • onnelleries de France released a report T in July that France's barrel production was up 3% over last year, with much of that growth fueled by exports. For more information contact your sales representative or email us at info @seguinmoreau.com W IN ES & V I N ES O CTO B E R 2 0 1 3 53