Wines & Vines

July 2016 Technology Issue

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46 WINES&VINES July 2016 OAK BARRELS & ALTERNATIVES Speaking Out for Oak Barrel Alternatives and Seismic Safety Winemakers and coopers brief oak conference attendees on barrels, adjuncts and related issues By Andrew Adams S peaking to an audience of fellow winemakers at the second annual Wines & Vines Oak Conference, Celia Welch said it's time for them to em- brace oak barrel alternatives. Welch, who has been a winemaker for more than 30 years and currently produces premium Cabernet Sauvignon from single- vineyard estates in Napa Valley and her own brand Corra Wines, said the environmental and cost benefits of alternative products should be enough for winemakers to take them seriously. Chips, staves and other al- ternatives use parts of harvested oak trees that barrels do not and also cost far less than new barrels. The quality of such products has also im- proved dramatically in recent years, Welch said, explaining that they now truly provide an alternative to barrels. "In my own trials they prove to be as good as—or better than—tradi- tional barrels," she said. Welch delivered the keynote address at the conference, which took place at the Culinary Institute of America's Greystone campus in St. Helena, Calif., on April 27. The event drew a crowd of more than 250 people who at- tended seminars held in the barrel room of the historic building and technical tastings in an adjacent theater. Welch, who began working in winemaking in 1982, recounted that back then a typical barrel- cleaning regimen included adding 2 pounds of soda ash per barrel. The caustic chemical did an OK job of reducing volatile acidity and Brett, but it also removed "everything else that was charm- ing or delicious about that barrel." She also recalled how barrel cellars used to be much quieter before they housed the noisy climate-control machinery or other equipment that is often accompanied by the blare of music from cellar workers' radios. Barrel topping often was only marked by the quiet tapping of hammers on wooden bungs to gently loosen them from bungholes. "I just remember the sound.…There was a romantic quietude to a day of topping in a quiet cellar," she said. Welch recounted reaching into the darkness of barrel racks trying to find those wooden bungs and sometimes grabbing a rotted one that had become saturated with wine. "I don't remember sterilizing those bungs or anyone saying we needed to soak those bungs in really hot water to get them clean," she said. She also remembers several wineries with Brett problems and said there more than likely was a connection. Those traditional redwood bungs were replaced by silicone bungs—an innovation that has proved to be a major im- provement in maintaining wine quality. And in addition to better bungs, winemak- ers today have more options to use oak in a variety of ways rather than just traditional barrels. "We're missing an opportunity. These alternative products we're hearing about are really, really good," she said. Welch's remarks are notable in that most winemakers for wineries producing high- priced, premium wines rarely talk about their use of alternatives publicly and will typically only say they use them sparingly. It's common for those in the trade and consumer wine press to describe the use of oak alternatives in a disparaging way—as either a mark of poor winemaking or a way to cover up the flaws of wine made with low-quality fruit. Welch also asked the audience not to forget the lessons of the 2014 Napa earthquake that toppled barrel stacks at many wineries in the REBECCA ARNN "I don't want any of us to lose sight of the earthquake we had two years ago." —Celia Welch, winemaker Coopers Vincent Bouchard of Bouchard Cooperages (from left), Phil Burton of Barrel Builders and Guillaume Maugeais of Tonnellerie Radoux USA field questions from the moderator, winemaker Jeff Cohn of Jeff Cohn Cellars.

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