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6 WINES&VINES April 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 Laurie Daniel, a journalist who lives in California's Santa Cruz Mountains, found Lodi, Calif.-based winemaker Chad Joseph to be a willing interviewee on the subject of oak barrel alternatives. It was unusual, because many winemakers are reluctant to speak on the record about the use of non-barrel oak products. "He has given me some really detailed, great answers," Daniel said following the inter- view that appears in this issue (see page 41). Dr. Randy Worobo is a professor of food microbiology in the De- partment of Food Science at Cornell University. As part of his exten- sion program, Worobo leads winery sanitation and HACCP workshops across the United States. The barrel disinfection study that appears in this issue (see page 58 in the Practical Winery & Vineyard section) was part of Dr. Alejandra Aguilar Solis' doctoral research, and was made possible by the generous donation of barrels, equipment and employee support at Robert Mondavi Winery, Clos du Bois, Simi Win- ery and Francis Ford Coppola Presents. Ray Pompilio, a wine writer living in Ithaca, N.Y., has close access to the largest concentration of wineries in the state. The New York Finger Lakes region is widely known for its world-class Rieslings. In his article for the Wine East section of this issue (see page 81), Pom- pilio looks at a possible contender for best Finger Lakes red wine va- rietal: Cabernet Franc. To get to the bottom of the matter, he consults two Seneca Lake winemakers and a Cornell University crop specialist to gather their experiences growing the wine grape cultivar. ON THE COVER Art director Barbara Summer shot the cover image for our 10th annual Oak Alternatives Issue. Following a two-year redesign, Australian manufacturer Flexcube launched a new model that can be used with BarriQ stave inserts. Read about other tank companies getting into the oak alternatives business starting on page 32. QUESTION FOR APRIL: What do oak barrel alternatives offer your wine program? Tony Leonardini Partner and winemaker BNA Wine Group St. Helena, Calif. Oak is an integral part of our wines at BNA. We love using alternative oak because it adds a new dimension of complexity and concentration to our wines. Alternative oak is also cost effective for some of our brands that are more competitively priced. Corey Beck President and director of winemaking Francis Ford Coppola Winery Geyserville, Calif. It's important to look at how staves are used in conjunction with micro-ox. We've been using this technology for the better part of 15 years....We've found that varietals like Syrah can take more O 2 versus lighter style reds such as Pinot Noir. I'm also a big believer in using staves during white wine fermentation. Paul Bianchi Winemaker Amelia Wynn Winery Bainbridge Island, Wash. In addition to the use of new barrels, the select use of oak chains in neutral barrels provides me with the flexibility to fine tune the contribution of new oak components on our red wines as well as reducing annual new barrel purchases....Several toasts of oak alternatives can be applied to small lots to achieve a more complex wine.