With all of the toys available to winemakers today, there’s absolutely no excuse for making a bad wine, regardless of weather problems.
You’ve heard me question the back label BS about how much tender loving care has gone into making this great wine without mentioning all of the miles it’s been driven from one facility to another, such as a custom crush facility. It seems to be generally implied that no cost has been spared and only natural practices have been used. Was it done organically? Who knows or who really cares. With all of the toys available to winemakers today, there’s absolutely no excuse for making a bad wine, regardless of weather problems. Not that every wine should be great, but it certainly shouldn’t be bad. Bacterial odors and other funky smells are a result of a winemaking screw-up along the line somewhere.
With all of the new wineries springing up like mushrooms after a warm October rain, can all of this new product be handled in the marketplace? Wine backup in the pipeline will be inevitable and both new and old wineries are going to need places to store it—such as custom crush facilities. There’s an old saying: “Find a need and fill it”—and that’s becoming true. Right here in virtually downtown Healdsburg there are more that 3 million gallons of storage tanks currently being constructed, with more on the drawing board. Stainless steel tank manufacturers are as happy as new pickup truck dealers after a profitable harvest for vineyard managers. Anyone can grow grapes and anyone can make wine. The real task is: Can we sell all of it? Competition from the craft brewers and spirits industry will also have a say. It’s beginning to appear that craft beer fans are as adamant about their product as wine consumers are, and right here in Wine (?) Country as well. Just the expansion of Bear Republic Brewing Co. gives us a clue about the future.
With all of this expansion going on, it would seem like the need for oak barrels would skyrocket also, since all of our new wines will be aged in and infused with oak. Barrel costs, like everything else, have risen sharply and can run up to $1,200+ per barrel (even American oak can be somewhat less than half of that). It takes about four barrels per ton of grapes and you get about 23 cases per barrel. Things do add up quickly. Hence, I attended a seminar and read a great article in Wine Business Monthly by Curtis Phillips a while back and tried to learn more about the world of oak. What an eye opener. The article started with a diatribe about wine writers: “Where most have so idealized wine and winemaking that they have taken on a too-bright-in-eye puritanism and religious fervor regarding what should be commonplace beverage.” (Thanks Curtis, couldn’t have said it better myself!) At a cost of about $4 per bottle for oak barrel aging, it’s easy to see where lower-priced wines would need an alternative method.
What are the alternatives, you ask? Two major things happen to wine in a barrel. First it obviously develops an oak aroma. Second, it goes through a micro-oxidation process (aging and softening). This process can be duplicated through a system developed called MOX. But what about the oak flavors? It comes from the wood. But who says that wood has to be in the shape of a barrel? Planks can be mounted inside a stainless steel tank or put into older barrels to re-enhance the oak. These thin slats are made from oak and can be toasted to any degree desired.
Then there are infusion tubes that look like a nylon stocking filled with oak beads, chips or small blocks. The tube is only big enough to go through the bung opening and can be of any length. Started early in the barreling cycle, you can change tubes to increase oak levels to the desired point. Chips, beads, blocks and beans can all be added loose but are more difficult to remove when done. Oak extract is also available as a liquid additive but must be used with extreme care, as do all of the infusion methods, since it’s nearly impossible to remove oak characteristics once they’re in.
Can you tell the difference? I think it’s like hair color: “Only her stylist knows!” But of course there are many wine writers who would say they could tell with just one sniff, I guess depending on what else they’ve been sniffing. OK, homework time. Find me some oak-infused wines. [Read more about barrel and oak alternatives in “Over a Barrel,” June 2014.]
