Wines & Vines

6 WINES&VINES February 2018 A member of Wine Communications Group Inc. ADVERTISING Vice President and Director of Sales Jacques Brix jbrix@winesandvines.com (707) 473-0244 West Lydia Hall lydia@winesandvines.com (415) 453-9700, ext. 103 Midwest Hooper Jones hooperhja@aol.com (847) 486-1021 East (except New York) Laura Lemos laura@boja.com (973) 822-9274 New York and International Dave Bayard dave@bayard.com (973) 822-9275 Advertising Production Manager April Kushner ads@winesandvines.com (415) 453-9700, ext. 114 DIGITAL EDITION All print subscribers now get digital access to Wines & Vines. You can: • DOWNLOAD pages or full issues • BROWSE current and archived issues • WATCH videos • ACCESS via desktop, tablet or smartphone • SEARCH by keyword or table of contents • NAVIGATE by topic or page thumbnail • QUESTIONS? Contact customer ser- vice at custserv@winesandvines.com or (866) 453-9701 Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. PDT. WINES&VINES 35 OAK BARRELS KEY POINTS CONNECT WITH US CONTRIBUTORS The Viewpoint column (page 26) in this issue tackles climate change. In this extremely thoughtful (even philosophical) opinion piece, one of the country's leading enology teachers summarizes the ways in which climate change is affecting winegrowing, and urges all of us to take a stand on the issue. Author Dr. Bruce Zoecklein is enology professor emeritus at Virginia Tech. He based the essay on his presen- tation at the 18 th annual British Columbia Grape and Wine Confer- ence. Zoecklein asks, "What do you (and the rest of us) lose if you bet against man-made climate change and are wrong?" Senior editor Andrew Adams worked overtime for this issue, writing a barrel story, a Technical Spotlight and a business-oriented piece on direct-to-consumer sales. Adams writes most of our barrel and oak coverage, including a piece on an extensive barrel trial (page 40). He also authors the majority of the monthly Technical Spotlights, which delve into the details of building and outfitting wineries. His focus this time is on Irvine & Roberts winery in southern Oregon (page 48). Traminette, a hybrid grape with Gewürztraminer as one of its par- ents, was named in 1996. A year earlier John Brahm, owner of Arbor Hill Grapery & Winery in Naples, N.Y., produced the first commercial wine from the variety. Bill Oliver, owner of Oliver Winery in Bloom- ington, Ind., planted his first Traminette vines in 2000 and currently produces 2,000 cases of what is known as the "Signature Grape Vari- ety" in Indiana. Ray Pompilio describes how the two wineries grow and vinify Traminette into a popular aromatic white wine on page 74. HUNGARIAN OAK AT THE SOURCE Pairing French Oak and Napa Cabernet 2017 Wine Sales Near $42 Billion Professor Urges Action on Climate Change How Smoke Taint Develops WINESANDVINES.COM FEBRUARY 2018 ON THE COVER For this month's cover, András Kalydy of Kádár Hungary captured the grain of a Hungarian oak log grown in the Zemplén forest. Jim Gordon traveled to Central Europe to get firsthand knowledge of the growing, logging and aging process of Hungarian oak, which has grown in popularity with North American wineries. QUESTION FOR FEBRUARY: How has your barrel program evolved in recent years? Steven Kent Mirassou Winemaker and president Steven Kent Winery Livermore, Calif. Contributing to an evolution of my winemaking philosophy, or as a consequence, new oak has become a much less desirable characteristic in my wines over the past five years. I'm not a fan of wines that stink of toast, spices, dark chocolate. In my view, oak (since 2013, French oak exclusively) should provide the unadorned scaffolding upon which sits a wine's fresh fruit and acidity. Kathy Malone Winemaker Hillside Winery Penticton, B.C. As Hillside has shifted to 100% Naramata Bench-grown fruit, the barrel program has shifted away from American oak, which I find overbearing for our reds. French oak integrates with the fruit better, softening tannins nicely. I've been playing with lower levels of toast, untoasted heads, slightly larger barrels and mixed-forest staves. Our Hungarian oak-fermented Pinot Gris is now exclusively in Tokaj-sourced wood. Ana Diogo-Draper Director of winemaking Artesa Vineyards & Winery Napa, Calif. As a maker of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, I believe oak needs to be used in a particularly attentive way. Since the vintage of 2015, I have reduced the percentage of new oak in all of our wines. Furthermore, I am now using more one-year-old oak, which I feel really has had a great impact in the improvement of the fruit profile in Artesa's wines, and also using more puncheon barrels. MICHAEL ZAGARIS / GWU MAGAZINE

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