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138 WINES&VINES January 2016 BARRELS AND OAK ALTERNATIVES W&V Oak Speakers Announced Winemakers Celia Welch and Jeff Cohn to headline April 27 event By Jim Gordon O ne of Napa Valley's most sought-after con- sulting winemakers, Celia Welch, and a Rhône wine varietal specialist who is a walking encyclopedia of barrel knowledge, Jeff Cohn, will be featured speakers at the sec- ond annual Wines & Vines Oak Conference. The St. Helena, Calif.-based Culinary Institute of America at Greystone will host the Wines & Vines Oak Conference on Wednes- day, April 27. The $229 registra- tion fee includes breakfast, lunch, four conference sessions, one of two tasting lab sessions and a trade exhibition focused on barrels, oak adjuncts and related equip- ment, supplies and services. Welch is the current wine- maker for Scarecrow, the coveted Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon from the J. J. Cohn estate (no rela- tion to Jeff Cohn), and produces her own Corra Wines brand as well as consulting for a number of Napa Valley clients. As the keynote speaker, she promises to present a "30-plus year retrospective on my own experiences making wine in Napa Valley and using barrels and oak products through the decades." Jeff Cohn founded Jeff Cohn Cellars in 1996 while working for famed Zinfandel producer and avid barrel consumer Rosenblum Cellars. He rose to the position of vice president of winemaking and production at Rosenblum before resigning in 2006 to make his own winery a full-time pursuit, locat- ing it in downtown Oakland, Calif. Cohn is known for a relentless pursuit of knowledge related to barrels, and he has written nu- merous articles on the topic for Wines & Vines and Wine Business Monthly. He will moderate an all- star panel of coopers to question them about quality, price, origin, tannin level, stave seasoning, toasting and other issues regard- ing barrels and adjuncts. The panel of coopers will in- clude Vincent Bouchard, general manager of Bouchard Cooperages in Napa, Calif., Phil Burton, owner of Barrel Builders in St. Helena, Calif., and Guillaume Maugeais, production manager of Tonnellerie Radoux USA in Santa Rosa, Calif. Cara Morrison, Chardonnay winemaker at Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards in Windsor, Calif., will lead a technical tasting during the afternoon session about barrel tri- als. Sonoma-Cutrer purchases oak from the same French forest and then sends staves to different coo- pers for toasting and assembly. Morrison's session will examine cooperage variation as well as pro- vide an opportunity to discuss bar- rel fermentation. Michael Beaulac, winemaker and general manager of Pine Ridge Vineyards, Napa, Calif., will present four wines from dis- tinct districts of Napa Valley and discuss how he goes about match- ing each to a specific cooperage through an extensive trial pro- cess. Beaulac says the vineyard accounts for 90% of the wine's characteristics, and it's the barrel that adds that final, pivotal 10%. In other sessions, master of wine Tim Hanni will teach a class about sensory perception of oak among winemakers and consum- ers, with an emphasis on what winemakers can do to better un- derstand their audience's tastes. Master cooper Quinn Roberts of Tonnellerie Ô will conduct a live demonstration of barrel main- tenance and repairs to help cellar staff understand how they can perform these functions them- selves. One tasting lab will focus on barrel trials at top-notch winer- ies, and the second will focus on oak adjunct trials. For more information or to reg- ister for W&V Oak, go to wvoak. com or call (415) 453-9700, ext. 102. Scarecrow winemaker Celia Welch will give the keynote address. Jeff Cohn will question a panel of coopers about oak quality issues. Master of wine Tim Hanni will discuss variation in oak sensory perception. Winemaker Cara Morrison will dem- onstrate a Chardonnay barrel trial. Michael Beaulac will discuss match- ing Cabernet to different cooperages.