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WINEMAKING If you have 12-18 months, then staves would be a great choice; if less time is required, then segments or blocks might be a good fit because they seem to extract at a faster rate. Are there wines for which you would never use oak alternatives? Beck: We've done a lot of experiments on most varietals with oak alternatives, and the only varietal we don't use them on is Sauvignon Blanc, but that's more of a style issue. When you buy chunks and staves, do you request certain forests, tightness of grain and toast levels? Beck: Barrel and stave companies have invested in technology and inventory over the past few years, which allows wineries to have many different choices when it comes to selecting their oak alternatives. Most suppliers offer French, American and Hungarian oak, along with differ- ent toast levels. We've been able to work with a supplier to help select the right stave to help complement particular varietals. One example is the endless trials we did with Stavin to select the perfect wood match for one of our Zinfandels. Through the different trials, we've been able to use a combination of American and French oak staves—70% American and 30% French—to help enhance the wine. Zinfandel can be fragile during aging because it doesn't have the tannins that some of the Bordeaux varietals have, so it was important for us to have a mix of French and American oak staves. We chose the American oak stave because of its wonderful aroma and notes of crème brulée and caramel that worked extremely well with the Zinfandel. The French oak stave was chosen because of its contribution to the mid-palate and helping round out the wine. A resident of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Laurie Daniel has been a journal- ist for more than 25 years. She has been writing about wine for publications for nearly 15 years and has been a Wines & Vines contributor since 2006. Cost of barrels vs. staves C orey Beck, winemaker for the Francis Coppola Winery in Sono- ma County, Calif., provided a breakdown of some of the cost savings per gallon of wine associated with oak alternatives: "Oak barrels can range from just north of $1,000 per 225-liter bar- rel for French oak to $300 for American," Beck says. "If you use the $1,000 barrel, the cost is around $16.50 per gallon to age the wine. I will say that barrels at this price are still a big part of what we do, but they're used for higher price-point wines." For wines that are in the $10-$20 retail price range, using a $1,000 barrel "can be challenging," Beck adds. "Really good" oak staves, he says, work out to about 60 cents per gallon for the wine. "We have taken the savings from oak aging and poured it back into our growers and buying higher quality fruit for these programs," Beck says. "This is one reason why wines under the $20 retail price con- tinue to improve on quality and have become amazing values." L.D. $16.50 PER GALLON $00.60 PER GALLON Luc & Jodie Morlet Phone: (707) 967-8690 ext. 111 Email: info@morletselection.com 32 Wines & Vines APRiL 2012 W &V : W &V :