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July 2016 WINES&VINES 49 OAK BARRELS & ALTERNATIVES Divergan F – PVPP The Revolutionaries Behind Wine's Visionaries Malolactic Bacteria, Non-Saccharomyces Yeasts Fermentation Nutrients Membrane Cartridge Filters, Laboratory Consumables OenoFoss - FTIR Analytical Instrumentation Filter Sheets, Lenticular Cartridges, Cellulose Pre-Coat Fibers Cross Flow Filters, RO Systems Liquid and Granular Enological Enzymes Oak-Mor ® / Oak Avantage ® Chips and Granular Oak CO 2 Analytical Instrumentation At Gusmer, we know the wine you create is just as unique as you are. Portable Ozone Systems H 2 S Preventing Saccharomyces Yeasts Lysozyme For over 90 years, Gusmer has oered a full range of innovative enological tools that enable your creative expression through unique and interesting wines. Equipment, analytical instruments and processing aids brought to you from leading suppliers in the wine industry, all backed by strong Gusmer technical support. The options for expression have never been greater and the tools have never been better – so go ahead, be unique, express yourself. For more information, contact Gusmer today. West Coast : 81 M Street Fresno, CA 93721 Tel: 559.485.2692 Midwest : 1401 Ware Street Waupaca, WI 54981 Tel: 715.258.5525 The Wine Lab TM : 640-D Airpark Road Napa, CA 94558 Tel: 707.224.7903 East Coast : 1165 Globe Avenue Mountainside, NJ 07092 Tel: 908.301.1811 Gusmer Sonoma Store : 9025 Old Redwood Hwy, Ste C Windor, CA 95492 Tel: 707.836.1056 NEW www.gusmerwine.com sales@gusmerenterprises.com French Oak because the supply of French oak is regulated by the government, it invariably will increase year to year. "The winner is the government. It's why the price of oak is going up, it's the reason why the price of barrels is going up," he said. When Cohn brought up the growing num- ber of specialty barrels that are released by cooperages every year, it launched a discussion about the use of technology in the cooperage versus sticking with the traditional approach of manual craftsmanship. Bouchard said it's been very interesting to him to see the amount of marketing by other compa- nies touting their high-tech production methods and introduce new brands and barrels. Yet he still believes the best way to produce barrels is with the hands of an experienced cooper. Maugeais countered that what winemakers want most of all is consistency, and Radoux's oak tannin-scanning system and other innova- tions help ensure the company produces the same barrels each vintage. Yet, he said, such technology is not so effective unless the staves are assembled by a skilled cooper. He added that cooperages are offering a greater variety of barrels in response to de- mands from winemakers. All of the panelists said they are seeing more interest from wine- makers in barrels that bring a more restrained oak touch to their wines and for larger vessels like puncheons. Burton said when he started in the barrel business, it was common to receive shipping containers from Europe filled with unwrapped barrels with a couple of inches of standing sea- water that had leaked in during shipment. Now barrels are shrink-wrapped and carefully pack- aged, and most coopers sell a consistent, well- made product. "The bar is high. You can not mess up any- more," he said. Mike Blom, owner of Napa Barrel Care, discusses lessons learned from the August 2014 earthquake as well as optimizing space for barrel storage.