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48 WINES&VINES July 2018 BARRELS Tonnellerie Ô's Trowbridge reports that his company is working toward creating a higher- end American oak market. "We currently cre- ate single-mill barrels by isolating the wood source, sorting the wood for the finest grain, and seasoning it for 36, 48 or 60 months." The next phase, what he calls the "American barrel revolution," will be to approach large, private American landowners and ask to man- age their forest property. "We'll put their family name on the barrels, much like they do in France. It'll be our 'crème de la crème.' " Less demand for Eastern European oak When it comes to alternative oak sources, it seems that Eastern European oak is a bit of old news. "I would venture to say that Eastern European oak has flattened out at a certain market share. Most people have tried it and found a place for it in their program or moved on," said Cooperages 1912's Van Ermst, who also reported that the price gap between French oak and Eastern European oak has lessened in the last few years. Thus, those wineries that may have once looked to Eastern European oak as an economic alternative to French oak barrels no longer see the advantage and are paying the few extra dollars for the traditional French oak. Seguin Moreau's Hansen stated that his company sells only a few hundred barrels a year of Russian oak, with an average price of $800 per barrel. When asked about Hungarian oak, he said that while the company does sell a European oak blend, it is no longer buying oak from Hungary. "Trials with Hungarian oak in the late 2000s had mixed reviews, so most people are opting for French oak." Burton said Barrel Builders continues to seek out alternative European oak sources. "Oak from the south of Ukraine is the same species as the Hungarian oak, and it's consider- ably cheaper than French oak," he said, adding that these barrels can sell anywhere between €650 and €750 euros ($793-$915). He said the company is also working with wood staves from Armenia, "arguably the oldest wine re- gion in the world," but these are still in the "experimental stages." Alternative oak solutions and other trends Tonnellerie Ô is part of the Cork Supply group, which also includes the barrel alternatives supplier Creative Oak. Trowbridge said the use of alternatives — including staves, chips and powders — has increased across the wine in- dustry. "It's crept up from wines with an aver- age price of $10 to wines priced around $30," he said. While he noted that wines aged with alter- native oak treatments priced between $10 and $30 are "seeing the most success" in the con- sumer market, Trowbridge also mentioned, without naming names, that he has one client who sells wine with a $50 price tag and 90- point score.The high-scoring, premium red wine was aged using only staves. He doesn't want to name names because it seems that, high scores aside, it's still a bit of an industry faux pas to admit using the products. "It'll be interesting to see if that changes," he said, mentioning that Tonnellerie Ô makes forest- specific oak alternatives that can home in on specific flavors and textures and create good- quality wine — for significantly less money. Looking toward the future, Trowbridge said that Tonnellerie Ô plans to start a "question everything" research-and-development pro- gram. The new program will bring on young coopers as well as winemakers who want to be part of the committee and steer those questions being asked. "We feel strongly that we're mak- ing good barrels that customers love based on tradition and intuition," he said, "but we want to look at those traditions and challenge them and either prove or disprove them, and evolve accordingly." t: 707 942 9301 f: 707 942 5037 info@nadalie.com The Highest Quality Products Based on 100 years of Experience