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WINEMAKING Don Van Staaveren seeks out tight-grain French oak dried for 36 months or longer. ernet Sauvignon, sourced from the Stags Leap District, Melton said she prefers Vicard and Berger. "They both meld really nicely with the darker notes in Stags Leap District fruit and don't overpower the silky tannins from this appellation." The Varozza program employs Ermit- age and Baron, which "both incorporate really nicely in the wines' structure and help create a rich middle with great weight and complexity." Most winemakers surveyed and inter- viewed said they purchase from five or more coopers and that they would either be buying the same number of new barrels this harvest or purchasing more barrels. Finding a good partner on quality control Michael McNeill, winemaker at the 5,000- case Hanzell Vineyards winery in Sonoma, said he works with seven cooperages that all provide what he described as a lighter profile. "We don't like smoky. We are look- ing for barrels that really focus the fruit. We're also looking for something to ex- tenuate the structure of the wine," he said. Hanzell is known for Chardonnay that can age past a decade, and so McNeill said he employs barrels that don't impart "fat or creamy impressions." McNeill said evaluating barrels begins with telling coopers his winemaking goals and hearing their recommendations. "We went to the cooperages and had them taste the wines and spent a great deal of time talking to them about structure and fruit expression," he said. "You tell us what barrel would work best, and then we've evaluated and judged those differ- ent cooperages and made some adjust- ments. We're looking for a barrel that doesn't get in the way of the fruit." One of Hanzell's top priorities for barrels is that they be free of any contamination. In 2003, a prominent wine critic with a TCA-sensitive palate alerted the winery to tainted Chardonnay, and Hanzell endured a very public and extensive process to remediate the problem. McNeill said Han- zell is committed to ensuring TCA is never an issue again. The winery tests its atmo- sphere and water supply twice per year for any precursors to TCA. "We probably go way beyond most wineries and certainly any winery our size," McNeill said. In 2011 McNeill said the winery launched a barrel initiative to work with seven different coopers to ensure only clean barrel material enters the cellar. He said the coopers have agreed to supply third-party lab results to verify the clean- liness of the barrels, but McNeill said it's "somewhat of an emerging science—not unlike the cork industry 20 years ago." Because the winery is still evaluating coopers, McNeill declined to name any of them. He added there have been different levels of commitment to testing. One phrase repeated often by winemak- ers at the premium level when describing their oak programs was a "traditional approach." These winemakers are looking for a harmonious match between oak and wine and tend to gravitate toward estab- lished French coopers producing barrels with lengthy seasoning times and tight grains. While they may have favorites, winemakers are open to experimentation as well as advice from their peers and cooperage representatives. Be it fermentation, maturation, or transportation, Snyder has the wine handling solution for your application in both plastic and steel product constructions. Wine Making Solutions 2 Barrel Rack-Master® 4 Barrel Rack-Master® Plastic barrels permeate oxygen like oak. Revolutionary plastic barrel racks. Portable stainless steel wine totes. Email: sales@snydernet.com • Phone: 1-888-422-8683 • Fax: 402-465-1220 www.snydernet.com WINES & VINES OCTOBER 2012 35