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BARRELS Taking control of the source James Hall, winemaker and part owner of Patz & Hall Wine Co. in Sonoma, Calif., said his philosophy on barrels changed dramatically about 10 years ago. He said he used to buy a collection of different barrels with an assortment of toasts and grains. "I was getting complexity and diversity, but I wasn't really satisfied with the consistency," Hall said. He said he was visiting the stave yard of Francois Frères in France when he noticed a pile of wood that had been set aside for a specific winery. Intrigued, Hall said he decided to purchase some wood lots and found he exchanged diversity for consistency and liked the results. "Now I buy exclusively that way," he said. Hall primarily uses Francois Frères for his In the toasting area at World Cooperage, oak barrels are toasted to match one of hundreds of different profiles. Pinot Noirs and Seguin Moreau for his Chardonnays. He said both coopers buy and separate stave wood just for Patz & Hall. The purchasing arrangement gives Hall the certainty that his barrels will be coming from the same lot of stave wood that has undergone the same amount of aging in the same exact location. "Most coopers buy staves on the stave market," he said. "It's not always clear where those staves are aging." Sourcing barrels from the same lot ensures the wood receives the same moisture, sun, air and microbial effect. Hall also said he's confident that the two coopers he uses employ strict quality control at their yards. In addition to Francois Frères and Seguin Moreau, Hall also purchases a small number of Taransaud Tonnellerie barrels but not stave wood because the cooper's ISO 9000 certification offers "impeccable wood provenance." He said barrels are one area that should offer winemakers some consistency rather than become another variable in the winemaking process. "It's something we should have control of; the variables are pretty much understood." Wood origin, seasoning, coopering and toasting can be relatively standardized, so Hall said barrel selection shouldn't be a matter of intuition and trial. In his opinion, Win es & Vin es F EB RUA RY 20 14 43