Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/267019
w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m M a r - A p r 2 014 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 6 7 "How many winemakers have ordered 30 fine-grain, medium- toast barrels and ended up with their favorites, the middle and the outliers?" asked Christy Thomas of Esprit de Dryades. "Jean-Charles feels he is on a path to deliver the a fat cigar that extends to the top of the barrel. The barrel itself rotates around the stationary cone so heat, rather than fire, toasts the barrel. Vicard calls this process "molecular toasting." The G7 red-wine barrel goes through a gradual toast, starting at 180°F and increasing 10 degrees every 20 minutes, resulting in a toast that nearly goes through the stave. The entire toast process takes place in a box that controls for ambient air, and has a 2-degree margin of error. "Coopers will tell you barrels toasted at 7 a.m. are different than those at 3 p.m.," Thomas explained. "The toasting box is another piece of the process that controls for variables." When a customer finds a barrel that works for him or her, the pro- file is saved and that barrel can be produced again and again, Thomas said, with consistent results. holy grail to winemakers: the same barrel year after year." Vicard found that customers could not quantify the difference in the outcome among wine from bar- rels made from the nine oak forests of France. Even if they could, those differences would be impossible to replicate, he found. Even within a forest, one would find barrel-to- barrel and year-to-year inconsisten- cies. But the actual measurable tannins in the wood, rather than the tightness of the grain, proved the most consistent measure. Wide grain is considered less tannic and tight grain more tannic. But Esprit de Dryades learned the correlation is accurate just 70% of the time. Now, it tests for ellagitannin lev- els, then sort and cooper barrels accordingly. M i r c o - p e r f o r a t e d s t a v e s a r e s t e a m - b e n t f o r n o m o r e t h a n four minutes, the point after which the hydrosoluable tannins in the wood are extracted. The tiny slits are no more than a millimeter deep, shallow enough to prevent contamination. The fire is fueled by a spaghetti- like wood waste agglomerate fed by an auger and an air vent gov- erned by a computer programmed to the toast level. The fires burn within a double cone shaped like + Economic demands are driving wineries to look for new barrel options. + Innovations include steel barrels fitted with oak staves and barrels with transparent staves that allow for a view of fermen- tation in action. + With high-tech assays of oak quality and more tightly controlled manufactur- ing and toasting, barrels become ever more consis- tent within brand and even year to year. + Among conventional bar- rels, the range of options available to winemakers continues to grow. AT A GLANCE The Vicard Generation 7 barrel was created to deliver consistency year after year.