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April 2018 WINES&VINES 53 OAK BARREL ALTERNATIVES Many winemakers are adding various forms of oak powders at the crush station, especially in growing areas where it is cooler or in years where color extraction is expected to be low. The idea behind this practice is that the oak powder will help to fix whatever color comes out as quickly as possible. Useful in whole lines of wines Although still a minority, a sub- stantial number of wineries exclu- sively are using oak alternatives in their wines, from low- to high- end, and of these wineries, several have won significant medals in national and international wine competitions. The careful wine- maker should not be afraid of using these products in his whole line of wines. In conjunction with micro- oxygenation in stainless steel and maturation in plastic bar- Office: 1285 Foothill Blvd - Cloverdale, CA 95425 Ph: (707) 224-2377 - Fax: (707) 224-2390 www.saury.com Since 1873 Tonnellerie Saury has been built on the traditions and expertise of its master coopers and is now one of France's most well-known cooperages. Benefiting from a 100% self- sufficient supply of French oak and a fully integrated manufacturing process, Tonnellerie Saury maintains complete control over the raw materials for its production. Each barrel and tank undergo rigorous quality control testing during every step of the production process. COMPOUNDS FOUND IN OAK WOOD W hile the work on oak flavor was done on barrels, the con- clusions also apply to oak alternatives. It is important to understand the compounds that are found in oak wood, and then what happens during the extraction process. Chatonnet in 1995 and then Leffingwell in 1998 identified more than 70 com- pounds extracted from oak wood and wine aged in oak barrels. Based on radar plots of flavor and aroma descriptors perceived by panels of tasters, Eric Herve of ETS Laboratories narrowed the discussion to nine of the most important compounds con- tributing to oak influence in wine making. "Same Toast, Differ- ent Coopers" (page 50) shows radar plots of two barrel types that demonstrate how divergent the aromatic perception of the same wine can be when the winemaker uses similar barrels from different coopers. Narrowing the list to the nine compounds presented in "Oak Aroma Descriptors" below helped to simplify and give focus to compounds present, while not getting lost in the minutiae of detail. Extraction kinetics dictate that a compound's mass flow diffu- sion out of a matrix drops by the logarithm of its initial surface rate of mass transfer. The principle reason barrels only last three years with respect to oak flavor transmission is due both to this rate of diffusion and the fact that the whole stave cannot be toasted through. This results in progressively lower amounts of toasted oak compounds available to be extracted from the oak. It does, however, allow for variance in the types of compounds extracted, and thus can add complexity to the final wine. OAK AROMA DESCRIPTORS Eugenol and Isoeugenol Eugenol and Isoeugenol possess a similar spicy, clove aroma. Eugenol is present in raw oak and is reported to increase during open-air seasoning. Guaiacol and 4-methylguaiacol Guaiacol and 4-methylguaiacol have smoky aromas and are markers of the smoky character imparted by heavily toasted oak. Guaiacol has more of a char aroma, while 4-methylguaiacol has char and spicy characters. Cis-oak lactone/ trans-oak lactone The main aroma constituents of raw oak are these two isomers of oak lactone. Their associated sensory descriptors are fresh oak and coconut. Furfural and 5-Methylfurfural Furfural and 5-methylfurfural possess sweet, butterscotch, light caramel and faint almond-like aromas. Vanillin Vanillin, the main aroma compound in natural vanilla, is also present in raw oak. Compounds that affect flavor and aroma, from the Alchemy of Oak Add-Ins by NadaliƩ Cooperage.