Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/957564
WINERY & VINEYARD EQUIPMENT 64 WINES&VINES April 2018 Rather than just mimicking barrels or offering an affordable way to add oak impact, barrel-alternative suppliers are now selling products they claim provide an even greater degree of precision in terms of flavors and aromas to help winemakers achieve certain style characteristics. Several new products that debuted at the recent Unified Wine & Grape Symposium are designed to work with specific varietals, provide certain sensory notes or just get wines past the finish line and ready for bottling. The Wines & Vines Product Focus feature is not intended to provide a definitive listing of all available products in a particular segment or provide any comparative analysis, but rather serve as an overview of what's new or available and also of potential interest to readers as determined by the magazine's editorial staff. PRODUCT FOCUS Oak Barrel Alternatives Suppliers seek to provide greater precision in alternative oak products By Andrew Adams NADALIE Calistoga, Calif.-based Nadalie USA expanded its line of Oak Add-Ins with a new oak chain for white wines. The chains are available with 18 segments for 18% new oak equivalent (NOE), 34 pieces for 33% NOE, and 48 pieces for 50% NOE. The chains can be used in tanks or barrels and during fermentation or aging to add notes of minerality, spice and fruit. oakaddins.com SEGUIN MOREAU Seguin Moreau expanded its line of Oenofinisher logs that are produced with compressed oak chips. The cooper is now offer- ing a Toast Booster log that re- quires just one week for full integration. When used with red wines, the Toast Booster delivers spice, roasted or smoked notes and added volume or roundness. The product also can be used as a finisher or during the primary fermentation of white wines to add smoke and spice notes with increased complexity and palate length. A Vanilla finisher should be released later in the year and can be used to provide more sweetness and texture. seguinmoreaunapa.com XTRACHÊNE The new XtraPure and XtraVan oak chips by Xtrachêne are de- scribed by the French supplier as a "winemaker's best ally to protect must and wine from de- structive oxidation." The French oak chips offer a high level of anti-oxidant capacity and re- ceive a gentle heat treatment that makes them similar to un- toasted oak. XtraVan chips add notes of vanilla and "extend generosity and roundness on the palate." The chips are pro- duced with mainly French ses- sile oak and some American white oak, and are best used for long seasoning. xtrachene.fr LE GRAND The Magic Staves by French cooperage Le Grand are the same ones the company uses to produce barrels but meant to be used as tank inserts. The 27-mm staves are produced with fine-grain, 24-month-sea- soned French oak and require a similar amount of time as barrels to achieve optimal re- sults of softening and enhanc- ing the texture and mouthfeel of a wine. legrandoak.com