The Winemaker's Elixir

Thanks to a certain Sierra Foothills winemaker for sending me this important opportunity. He's passing on the opportunity but he wanted to let me know, to let you   know, that just in time for the harvest, liquid oak tannin, and one that according to Toasted Oak, Inc proprietor Bernard Pradel it's flying off the shelves. The reason? 

“People are in a hurry to get wine to the bottling line,” Pradel explained. “Our product can save six months to a year on wine aging."

I remember a few years ago a Paso winemaker told me he loved to put everything in during the fermentation, such as dried tannins, so he could remove and find tune them through reverse osmosis. But with liquid? You can add it prior to bottling. A  miracle drug. But where I often heard of its use for fixing color, adding structure, this is the first time I heard of it being promoted for agebility.

I can't write it any better, so I'm just going to cut and past from the Napa, California Beverage Supply Group press release entitled Liquid Tannin "Elixir" for Winemakers Can Save Six Months to a Year on Wine Aging. 

Liquid oak tannins add textures and flavors to wines that traditionally come from months of oak barrel aging. While not a substitute for oak barrels, the liquid tannins, derived through a water distillation process from authentic French oak, can accomplish similar results and can be used up to two days prior to bottling.

Toasted Oak Company offers four different finishing tannins - Mocha, Vanilla, Fruit Enhancer and Fruit Enhancer Plus - and a Harvest Tannin, which is added to wine pre-fermentation. Pradel says the flavor profiles provided by his liquid tannins are carefully derived through extensive analysis done at the company’s processing facility near Cognac, France.

 “We’ve done years of research on our sources of wood to make sure they follow the same parameters and secure the flavors perfectly,” Pradel says. “Our customers require that from us; the flavors have to match.”

Beverage Supply Group (BSG) is the exclusive supplier of these Toasted Oak Company products. BSG Sales Manager Doug Manning says the liquid tannins have grown in popularity so quickly, he has to back stock the products in order to accommodate demand.

 “Winemakers are beginning to use the liquid tannins as part of their actual wine profiles,” Manning says. “It’s almost like a winemaker’s elixir – a measureable, reproducible way to fine tune fine wine.”

 

 

Comments

[LCFwino]

Yeah! Elixir me, baby!

[VinMasterWine]

Why don't we use grape extract instead of growing the grapes too? That would save 100 days.

[Ali O'Neill]

wow,how repulsive. whenever I tell people that none of this stuff is on the label I either get disbelief or "I don't want to know". I don't get it.

[Brianne Day]

Gross. Is it wine, or Kool-aid?