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CO VER S T OR Y ARTISAN TONNELIER EN VALLÉE DU RHÔNE Sticks, cubes, chips or powder, most samples are pre-measured for use in 750ml bottles. Some companies offer samples that relate back to staves. American Oak 3-year seasoned The Continental hungarian oak Though it is the most common bench-top testing volume, a 750mL test sample size does not fit all. Winemaker X at a 150,000-case winery in Sonoma County, Calif., said, "750ml doesn't really make much sense for us" when it comes to doing trials for use in the company's $16 Chardonnay, which comprises the lowest priced tier in the winery's portfolio. Trials for stave in- serts sourced from StaVin and Nadalie are conducted in 55-gal- lon stainless steel barrels or 3,000- to 5,000-gallon test tanks. After pressing, Winemaker X allows the Chardonnay to settle for 24 to 48 hours. The wine is then racked off the heavy lees to ferment on lighter lees with oak stave inserts, all while achiev- ing a target turbidity number. In lieu of micro-oxygenation, a pump-activated snake at the bottom of the tank gently stirs the lees every 2 to 3 weeks after primary fermentation and before malolactic fermentation occurs. The wine then stays on the stave inserts until it is ready to cold stabilize and bottle. JOHN SCHILTER | WINEMAKER THE TRADITION OF PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN COOPER AND WINEMAKER CONTINUES. 707.696.7695 (phone) 2180 Oak Knoll, Napa CA 94558 john@heritagebarrels.com www.heritagebarrels.com 32 Wines & Vines APRiL 201 1 Built on barrel alternatives Steve Peck, red winemaker at 1 million-case J. Lohr Vineyards and Wines, Paso Robles, Calif., said that J. Lohr is truly a bar- rel house stacked with 20%-25% new oak. However, J. Lohr's Cypress label is built on barrel alternatives. Cypress retails be- tween $8 and $9 per bottle and represents less than 5% of total production. Once a year Peck conducts 5L bag-in-box bench-top trials with a 10 gram per liter oak addition. His exposure time ranges from 2 weeks to 2 months. Peck adheres to the 10 gram per liter addition rate because it makes the blending math easy when blending back with neutral wine for the final release. "It really does challenge the mind as to whether or not that oak sample is representative enough. A 750ml sample is tough to extend to a tank amount," Peck said in reference to possible translation errors. "It's tough to base a large purchase upon it." In Peck's case, 90% of the alternatives he uses are granular untoasted French oak for color stability and tannin contribution during primary fermentation. After primary and before malolac- tic fermentation, he uses micro-oxygenation in conjunction with his alternative addition. After Peck selects his bench-top winners, he conducts trials in neutral oak barrels and selects a champion from there. "Whittle