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6 Wines&Vines February 2015 A member of Wine Communications Group Inc. Advertising Vice President & Director of sales Jacques Brix jbrix@winesandvines.com (707) 473-0244 West Lydia Hall lydia@winesandvines.com (415) 453-9700 x 103 midwest Hooper Jones hooperhja@aol.com (847) 486-1021 northeast Marsha Tabb marshatabb@comcast.net (215) 794-3442 East Laura Lemos laura@boja.com (973) 822-9274 international Dave Bayard dave@bayard.com (973) 822-9275 advertising manager Christina Ballinger ads@winesandvines.com dIgITAL EdITIoN All print subscribers now get digital access to Wines & Vines. You can: • DOWNLOAD pages or full issues • BROWSE current and archived issues • WATCH videos • ACCESS via desktop, tablet or smartphone • SEARCH by keyword or table of contents • NAVIGATE by topic or page thumbnail • QuESTIONS? Contact customer ser- vice at custserv@winesandvines.com or (866) 453-9701 Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. PDT. CONNeCT WITH US CoNTRIBuToRS Cliff Ohmart, an entomologist with a Ph.D., has been writing for Wines & Vines for 17 years, but we have rarely seen him as excited as he was about writing the Vineyard View column (page 26) in this is- sue. To mark the 10th anniversary of the Lodi Rules sustainability pro- gram in California, he shares some telling statistics about its success and adds: "It is the only sustainable certification program of any agri- culture product that I know of in the United States where the growers are getting paid for their efforts." Ohmart helped write the Lodi Rules and is justifiably proud of the way the program is paying off. Laurie Daniel writes about wine for Bay Area News Group pub- lications including the San Jose Mercury News, and she has been conducting interviews with winemakers, grapegrowers and the oc- casional professor—such as Dr. James Kennedy (page 36)—for Wines & Vines since 2006. She found the chair of the viticulture and enology program at California State University, Fresno, to be a particularly en- gaging subject as he previewed his presentation at the Wines & Vines Oak Conference and discussed the work his department is doing. Peter Salamone co-wrote with Dr. Anita Oberholster an article on a new method of tartrate stabilization for the Practical Winery & Vineyard section (page 67). Salamone has broad experience in wine- production settings such as E. & J. Gallo Winery and Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines as well as industry service experience as an American Vineyard Foundation reviewer on both the Enology and Germplasm & Breeding Committees. Question for feBruArY: What do you look for in a barrel? Zeke Neeley Winemaker, Trefethen Family Vineyards With Chardonnay I'm looking for less smoke and more of an impact on the body and texture of the wine. With Cabernet Sauvi- gnon, I get a range of toasts— heavier toasts for the less-ripe lots and lighter toasts for the riper lots....I would say our Pinot Noir loves a hint of bacon, Chardon- nay spice, Cabernet chocolate. diane Wilson Winemaker, Wilson Winery When tasting through new oak barrels, I want the oak to supplement—not dominate—the wine. It should not jump out at you. On big, bold wines I want the oak to add sweetness and round it out. On lighter wines I am looking to have the oak build it up a bit and help increase the mouthfeel. Hugh Chappelle Winemaker, Quivira Vineyard & Winery What I look for in choosing a barrel is primarily qualities that will support purity of aromatics from our fruit and build texture and structure on the palate. We are not looking for "high impact" barrels but rather barrels that will allow the character of the wine and our terroir to shine through. oN THE CoVER For our 11th annual barrel issue, Wines & Vines art director Barbara Summer used the inside of a toasted barrel to reflect wine- makers' demand for oak. In his cover story on page 28, associate editor Andrew Adams reveals that the United States has become the top barrel market in the world, and the increased cost of oak will be evident in barrel prices in 2015.