Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/804714
8 WINES&VINES April 2017 A member of Wine Communications Group Inc. President & Publisher Chet Klingensmith Chairman Hugh Tietjen Publishing Consultant Ken Koppel Associate Publisher Tina Vierra Publishing Assistant Tiffany Maxwell Special Projects & Events Coordinator Johanna Rupp EDITORIAL Editor Jim Gordon Managing Editor Kate Lavin Senior Editor Andrew Adams Senior Correspondent Paul Franson Contributing Editor Jane Firstenfeld Northwest Correspondent Peter Mitham Columnists Grapegrowing: Cliff Ohmart and Glenn T. McGourty Contributing Writers Laurie Daniel, Richard Smart, Richard Carey, Chris Stamp, Andrew Reynolds, Craig Root, Ray Pompilio, Andy Starr, Fritz Westover Practical Winery & Vineyard (PWV) Editor Don Neel Wine East Editor Linda Jones McKee DESIGN & PRODUCTION Graphic Designer Rebecca Arnn DATABASE DEVELOPMENT – INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Vice President — Data Management Lynne Skinner Project Manager Liesl Stevenson Database & Web Development James Rust, Peter Scarborough EDITOR'S LETTER OAK IS OUR MAIN THEME THIS MONTH, both in the magazine and at the upcoming Wines & Vines Oak Conference on April 26. It will be our third annual conference and trade show focusing tightly on barrels and oak adjuncts. We're all excited to be hosting the event in Sonoma County for the first time, and we encourage you to register as soon as possible at wvoak.com. This event is the opposite of the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, which covers the whole universe of grapes and wine. The Oak Conference is modest in size and simple in concept. We want to help you learn more about barrels and barrel alternatives from fellow winemakers, from researchers and from the 20 exhibitors who generously support the show. A key part of the learning comes from the opportunity to taste oak trials in three of the conference sessions as well as tasting the coopers' own trials at their booths. Plus, you can meet the people from cooperages that are new to you and get a feel for doing business with them. Attending winemakers have said they preferred this setting to having reps visit them at their wineries. We also will have a 90-minute session on barrel cellar management, a look at new enology products for man- aging phenolics and a lot of other relevant topics. For further details about the Oak Conference program and speakers, please check out the article on page 16. The cover headline, "Know Your Oak," refers mainly to a major piece of oak research recently completed in France that tracked down key sensory attributes of two types of French oak. Read the article beginning on page 38. One of the authors, Andrei Prida, will also present a summary of this research at our conference this month. On the subject of oak adjuncts, add-ins and alternatives, senior editor Andrew Adams pulled together a Product Focus article (page 68) highlighting new options in this field, especially those in new formats such as extracts that work almost instantly and extra-thick tank staves. Elsewhere in the issue, we're glad to have Glenn McGourty back with a new Grounded Grapegrowing column (page 32). Being the University of California Cooperative Extension advisor for Mendocino and Lake counties, McGourty has been very close to organic and Biodynamic grapegrowing for many years, and has helped guide its progress. His column busts a commonly held myth about the farming costs of these methods com- pared to conventional farming costs and draws on a recent study by the Cooperative Extension. I think you'll find his analysis and the figures from the study to be eye-opening. The issue also has a healthy dose of news and views from wine regions east of the Rockies, thanks to Wine East section editor Linda Jones McKee. Virginia vine- yardist Jim Law looks back on 32 years as a grape- grower (Viewpoint, page 36), the Infinite Monkey Theorem winery in Denver is the Technical Spotlight subject (page 52), and contributor Bill Ward gives thorough coverage of Minnesota's Cold Climate Con- ference (page 74). I hope you enjoy the issue, and I look forward to seeing a lot of you at the Oak Conference! —Jim Gordon We want to help you learn more about barrels and bar- rel alternatives from fellow winemakers, researchers and exhibitors. CONTACT US SUBSCRIPTIONS Email: subs@winesandvines.com Online: winesandvines.com/subscribe Phone: (866) 453-9701 EDITORIAL Email: edit@winesandvines.com MAIL 65 Mitchell Blvd., Suite A San Rafael, CA 94903 CONNECT WITH US facebook.com/WinesandVines twitter.com/WinesandVines youtube.com/WinesandVines1919 An Issue and a Conference Focused on Oak