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April 2016 WINES&VINES 49 OAK BARREL ALTERNATIVES The Wines & Vines Product Focus feature is not intended to provide a definitive listing of all available products in a particular segment or provide any comparative analysis, but rather serve as an overview of what's new or available and also of potential interest to readers as determined by the magazine's editorial staff. AUSVAT OakBak is a new oak barrel al- ternative produced with old barrels by the Australian sup- plier Ausvat. The company takes barrel staves and mills them down in to "battens" of "clean, virgin wood" that are then toasted with the firm's pro- prietary FIRVIN process. Thirty barrel staves can create 60 new battens, or more than 86 square feet of fresh, toasted oak. The company claims its process re- moves every trace of wood that has come in contact with wine, leaving no risk of off flavors being produced during the toasting process. (See page 42 for more on the method.) ausvat.com GUSMER ENTERPRISES Gusmer Enterprises is now offer- ing Arôbois' Arôneo line of French oak chips. The Arôneo line consists of the Douceur, Equilibre, Fraicheur and Intense toast options that provide differ- ent flavor characteristics. The chips can be used at any point from fermentation to aging and for any type of wine. The Equili- bre and Fraicheur chips are more tannic, while the Douceur and Intense have more of an ar- omatic effect. The supplier re- ports extraction occurs at three to four weeks, while recom- mending winemakers blend chips with different profiles to create more nuanced flavors. gusmerwine.com XTRACHÊNE Xtrachene added a new barrel insert product called Xtrakit that is made of 12 linked segments of two-year-seasoned French oak. The segments are toasted with a proprietary "rotisserie" system set above an open fire of oak. Xtrakit is available in the Terroir toast that is toasted like barrel staves and Quattro, which re- ceives some pre-toasting in a convection oven before being toasted over flames. The sup- plier recommends one chain per barrel for at least six months. xtraoak.com Xtrachene Gusmer Enterprises The Barrel Mill OAK SOLUTIONS GROUP Oak Solutions Group added "ib" (or Integration Boost) to its tru/tan portfolio of tannin products. The product is a mix of ellagitannin derived from stave wood and gal- lotannin from oak gall and is in- tended to provide a rich sweetness to the flavor and aroma of white or red wines. Appropriate for finish- ing and for aging, the supplier re- ports ib also adds a "soft, round boost" to the mid-palate. oaksolutionsgroup.com